1004
by thor-you-oaf
Summary: Inspired by blargberries comic strips on deviantart. The Odinson brothers are new to the neighborhood and naturally are the shiny new toy. They befriend the neighborhood gang who soon learn about the many mysterious secrets surrounding the family. Will their friendship hold through all the ups and downs or break when one betrays them all?
1. Chapter 1

The sun was shining brightly down on a middle class neighborhood. Many houses of varying colors of whites and blues filled the area with fences closing off green grasses and trees lining the sidewalks and streets. It was just the typical everyday neighborhood where families settled to raise their children, a high school nearby, and a local park that sat in the middle of it all. It was the peacefulness of this neighborhood that had drawn in the attention of a small family not too long ago, and with a black Mercedes driving behind two large moving vans, the neighborhood gained five new inhabitants, the Odinson family.

As the car came to a stop in front of a two story blue house with a white picket fence, three boys scrambled out of the door and ran as fast as they could towards their new home.

"I get the biggest room!" The tallest one, a blonde haired boy named Thor, demanded as he ran up the wooden steps to the house. He was shoved aside, stumbling against the porch railing, as his younger brother's ran forth with the keys in hand.

"No you don't! Mother and Father do, you oaf," said Loki, brushing his shoulder length black hair out of his face as he impatiently attempted to jiggle the lock open. He sighed loudly in frustration and stepped aside, beckoning for his other brother to open the door for them. Baldr was his twin brother, younger by one minute, but they looked nothing alike. None of the brothers resembled each other at all, yet somehow looked just like their parents in some way or another.

"Loki, do you wanna share a room with me?" Baldr asked in a sing song voice, pushing the door open. He got no answer as his brothers pushed past him and ran into the house, searching their new home for the bedrooms before one of them got the best. None of them had seen the house yet, their parents wouldn't let them come along house hunting and listening to all the complaints and fighting that would have been unavoidable.

"Don't worry, sweetie," Frigga said with a laugh in her voice, walking into the house with her purse in hand. "There are only four bedrooms and your father already had his office furniture moved into the one downstairs."

"You and Loki will share a bedroom, unless you want to share with Thor, unless _he_ wants to share with Loki. You three need to work it out yourself. Go on, go fight for your freedom," Odin added in, pushing his youngest son towards the stairs where they could hear voices floating down. Baldr disappeared up the stairs, whining about how he wanted his own room.

"Let's not tell them that the attic and basement are finished," Frigga told her husband in a hushed voice, holding open the doors as the movers began to bring in large boxes. Everyone looked up when there was a thump upstairs and yelling pursued.

"I personally would not mind if they took the basement or the attic, it would not be quite as noisy. Plus we could lock them in and send food through the vents," Odin said with a mischievous smile.

"Odin," Frigga said, whacking her husband on the arm. She gave him a stern look before smiling and turning her attention to the movers who were asking where to put the boxes.

Upstairs Thor, Loki, and Baldr stood in what obviously was the master suite as it had a bathroom attached to it, which would be their parent's room. They stood facing each other with their arms crossed, eyes narrowed, and confident stances that said none of them were going to give up until they each got what they wanted. What they wanted was the room with the bigger window and larger closet, as opposed to the room across the hall from their parent's bedroom that was just as big as the window room, except it had a slightly smaller closet.

Thor looked at Loki and then slowly moved his gaze to Baldr. In his mind, they _did_deserve the room with the bigger closet since they had to share, but on the other hand he was the oldest and he should get first dibs.

"Rock, paper, scissors?" He suggested, letting his arms fall to his sides. Baldr opened his mouth to agree instantly, but Loki quickly shushed him and shook his head, not ready to gamble on their bad luck. Somehow Thor always won rock, paper, and scissors.

"Look, how about this? Thor, you want the window room? You can have it, but in turn you have to share a room with Baldr," Loki said in a persuading tone. Baldr looked at him completely crestfallen at having been tossed aside so easily, his lip quivering. Loki sighed and put his hands on his brother's shoulders and gave him a comforting smile. "You and Thor have never shared a room, right? It would be great bonding time for you to grow closer."

"But I want to share with you," Baldr said softly, his shoulders falling somberly. He glanced at Thor, giving him a pouting look before looking back to Loki. "If that's what you want though…"

"No, that's not fair to you," Thor interrupted with a sigh. "Look, why don't we take the room with the window and let Baldr have the room across from mother and father's room?"

"Because I don't want to sleep in the same room with you, you snore worse than father. You know what, I don't care. You two fight it out and I'll share with who ever, alright? All this drama is giving me stress," Loki said, his eyes widening slightly and he took a deep breath. "It's making me…hard to breathe. Thor – I can't breathe!"

"Oh no! Mother! Mother, Loki is having an attack!" Baldr exclaimed, rushing out of the room in search for their parents. He bolted down the stairs and out the front door where he found his parents talking to a couple.

"Baldr, what's wrong?" Frigga asked, concern etching into her eyes as her youngest son ran to them with a worried look on his face.

"Loki's having another attack!" Baldr exclaimed in a rush, pointing towards the house. He jumped from foot to foot in impatience. "He packed his inhaler in a box, he needs help! Oh no, he's going to die!"

"Calm down, he's going to be okay," Odin told his son, patting his head as he quickly disappeared into the house to find his ailing child. Frigga turned her attention back to the family before her and forced a polite smile.

"I'm terribly sorry. Our son, Loki, suffers from asthma and has difficulty breathing sometimes," She informed them, placing her hands on Baldr's shoulders. She smiled down at him and he looked up at her with worry in his eyes. "This is Baldr, our youngest. He and Loki are twins. Baldr, these are the Banner's, they live two houses down."

"It's nice to meet you, Baldr. I'm sure we'll have plenty of time for introductions another time, though. We shouldn't keep you from your son," Mrs. Banner said, giving Frigga a smile. "We'll send our son Bruce over to help with the boxes, if you'd like."

"That would be lovely, thank you," Frigga answered. Goodbyes and more welcomes were said before the Banner's left the yard and headed to their own house. Frigga beckoned her son to follow her inside where they headed upstairs to find the rest of their family.

Loki was sitting on the floor with Thor and Odin kneeling on either side of him rubbing soothingly circles on his back as he wheezed miserably. Frigga took one look at her son's poor state and turned her attention to Baldr, who was looking like he was going to cry.

"Darling, go downstairs and get my purse; it's by the front door. I have his spare inhaler in there," She instructed him, and Baldr nodded before dashing back to the stairs. He returned less than a minute later, collapsing in front of his brother and thrusting the small piece of plastic into his hands. It took a couple of breaths and two puffs before the color started returning to Loki's face and his breathing evened out.

"I'm sorry," He whispered, closing his eyes tiredly. Attacks always left him shaky and exhausted regardless if they were full blown or short ones like this.

"Thor, tell the movers to open the furniture van and start bringing in the mattresses. Your brother needs to lie down," Odin said, keeping a firm hand on Loki's back swaying.

"I'm going to get my phone and call the doctor. He's going in first thing in the morning," Frigga decided, following Thor downstairs.

Loki swallowed thickly and leaned against his father, concentrating on keeping his breathing slow and even. He opened his eyes and smiled tiredly at Baldr who was still staring at him in fear that he would break at the slightest touch.

"M'fine, Baldr," He said softly, unable to speak much louder.

"Father, I think Loki should be in the room with the big window," Baldr said, turning his attention to their father with a determined look in his eyes. "That way he can open the window and let in a lot of air for when he can't breathe."

Odin contemplated for a moment, vaguely listening to his wife talk on the phone downstairs. But a moment later and shook his head and shifted Loki against the wall before standing up. "No, I think you two will take the room across from here. It would make your mother feel a lot better to have him closer by just in case. Now, watch over him I'd like to go have a word with the doctor."

"Well, I tried. Sorry, Loki," Baldr said, smiling widely at his brother. Loki groaned and let his head fall against the wall with a thump.

_reviewers get to give Baldr a hug c:_


	2. Chapter 2

"What did your mom say that kids name was? Baldo or something?" A messy blonde haired boy named Clint asked, peering through the dark red curtains of the bedroom window. He was nudged aside as a curly haired red head took her turn spying on the new neighbors. There were five of them huddled beside the window taking turns taking peeks at the family that had just bought the house across the street. From what they'd seen there was a mother, father, and three sons.

Bruce Banner, a boy with scraggly brown hair and glasses, looked up from the textbook that he currently had his nose buried in where he sat on the bed. "I don't know, Clint," He answered his friend. "They're from abroad apparently, but I guess their accents are understandable enough for them to get along in our society."

"Speaking of accents, do you guys remember when Nat first moved here when we were kids? None of us could understand a word she was saying," said Tony with a laugh, earning a glare from the only girl in the room, Natasha, who had been adopted from Russia as a child.

"We should go introduce ourselves and offer to help," A blonde haired boy named Steve decided, watching as what looked like the father handed a box to one of his sons.

"Eh, they've got movers to do that for them," Clint said, pushing him aside. "Besides, we'll meet them at school on Monday, right?"

"They could enroll in private school like a lot of the families around here do," Natasha pointed out to her friend, all three of them hidden behind the curtains spying now. Their eyes scanned over the house watching as men carried boxes into the house, and it was only as they watched one of the younger boys walk in did they notice that they were not the only ones watching the action happen, a black haired boy was staring out the front window and –

"Shit, I think we've been spotted, hide!" Clint said, pulling Steve and Natasha down. Tony snorted but didn't look up from his laptop, having little interested in his new neighbors. However, that all mattered very little because he heard his name being called from downstairs.

"Tony, come here for a second!" His father, Howard, hollered up the stairs. Tony sighed and pushed his laptop away and stood up to walk to his door and open it, sticking his head out.

"What do you want?" He yelled out, walking downstairs.

"Hey guys, my mom just texted me and said I have to go over and help. Come with me, please," Bruce said, sitting up and looking at them with pleading eyes. He wasn't shy normally, but it felt awkward going over to meet people they've been spying on for over an hour.

"Absolutely, just like I suggested," Steve agreed instantly clambering to his feet. He held out his hand to help Natasha up and gave her a smile she couldn't resist and say no to help them, and in turn would drag Clint with them.

Tony walked back into his room with a bored expression on his face. He walked back to his laptop and shut it before turning his attention to his friends, who were all standing and looking at him expectantly.

"Well? What are we waiting for, let's go."

* * *

Loki groaned loudly as he moved away from the window, having just seen a group of kids spying on his family from across the street. He was bored and there was absolutely nothing to do, but he would have enjoyed marching over there to demand to know what exactly there were doing spying on his family. The unfortunate reality was, he wasn't allowed to leave his room. Technically, he probably couldn't anyways because his arms and legs still felt like jello from the attack earlier. A nap had done him well but he still felt woozy, walking down stairs was not an option at the moment.

"Mother," He called out, hoping to catch her attention. He waited, lying on his bare mattress, for a response or footsteps to indicate that she was coming, but got none. "_Mother_, I'm ill and I need you!"

"I'm coming Loki! What do you need!?" Baldr exclaimed suddenly, bursting into the room. Loki groaned at the sight of his twin and rolled over to face the wall as Baldr fell to his knees beside him. "I'm here, Loki! Are you okay? Do you need your inhaler again? Tell me, I'll help!"

"I need mother. Go find her," Loki grumbled, closing his eyes as if it would somehow make his brother disappear.

"Ah, she went to get us all lunch. But I can help you, if you want," Baldr replied, smiling sheepishly. Loki rolled over again to face him and studied him for a moment, contemplating what to do. He didn't really need his mother; he was just looking for attention before he died of boredom. Baldr would do, he supposed.

"Sit with me for awhile, okay? I'm bored and I want someone to talk to," He said eventually scooting over on his mattress. He vaguely wandered which box he'd packed his pillows and blankets in, but looking around their room at the dozen boxes he realized that they'd never bothered to correctly label them like their parents had instructed.

"Well, there's a group of kids our age outside offering to help bring in boxes and stuff. Do you want to go say hi? They seemed really nice plus they go to the school father enrolled us in," Baldr informed him, stroking his brother's hair out of his face. He could see the weary expression that Loki was trying to hide for his sake. He knew that Loki knew it bothered him greatly to see him get ill and always tried to put on a strong face for him. Loki was just so strong, he was his hero.

"I know they were spying on you guys, I saw them watching out their windows," Loki answered him, chuckling softly. He was beginning to feel drowsy once again and the soothing strokes on his head were making him want relax.

"So you were spying on them spying on us? Let's go say hi then before Thor befriends them all without us," Baldr said, tugging on his brother's hand.

"Can't walk, too tired," Loki reminded him, suppressing a yawn. He scooted over and laid his head on Baldr's lap, closing his eyes and breathing slowly.

"Oh, I guess you'll just have to meet them on Tuesday then. You aren't going to school on Monday, mother said you're going to the doctor then," Baldr told him, lowering his voice.

"I shall not," Loki said immediately, snapping his eyes open and sitting up. He instantly regretted it as his head began to swim and he slowly lowered him back down. "I am not letting you go to school without me; it will just make me look even stranger coming in a day later than my brothers."

"I'll skip then! I'll ask mother if I can come with you to the doctor with you for moral support. Is that okay? I mean, I know you don't like me tagging along," Baldr offered.

"No, it's fine. Come with me, please," Loki answered, his voice growing strained as he grew exhausted again. He cursed himself for being so weak like this, getting done in just by a measly little asthma attack. But he promised himself that it wasn't going to get him down, he was going to be stronger and have a better life at this new school. He most certainly was not going to let it get the best of him at school have an ambulance called again, no siree Bob.

Baldr wasn't sure at which point it was when Loki had fallen back asleep, but none-the-less he stayed in the position he was in and allowed his brother to use his legs as a pillow while he stroked his hair. Looking around the room, he tried to figure out which boxes held which items but hadn't a clue where anything was. It was Loki's fault for rushing and shoving everything in random boxes without labeling them, so it was his own fault that he didn't have a real pillow to use or any blankets. Snorting out loud, Baldr leaned against the wall and stared out the window as the sun began to set. It was the end of the day, but it was the start to a new beginning.

_reviews get to offer their legs as pillows to Loki c:_


	3. Chapter 3

The sky was full of grey clouds threatening rain and the temperature had dropped to sixty degrees, an impending rain shower waiting to happen any moment now. As she looked out the living room window, Frigga was relieved that they had gotten all the boxes and furniture into the house yesterday, thanks to the help of the group of young boys that had stopped by. Bringing in everything in the rain would have been a disaster waiting to happen, and disasters and her family were synonyms with each other.

"Mother! Tell Baldr and Loki to stop bugging me about my room! I'm not giving it up!" Thor called from upstairs where she could hear bickering from her other two sons. She smiled and shook her head and pretending not to have heard. There was too much unpacking to be done to listen to squabbles about bedrooms. What's done was done and they'd all slept in their rooms last night, the decision was final. Thor would get the room with the bigger window because he was the oldest and Baldr and Loki would share the room across from hers and Odin's because, well they said so that's why.

Laughing to herself, Frigga lifted a box marked kitchen and carried it to the appropriate room. She couldn't help but appreciate all the space this house had, it was very nice. Almost like a vintage cottage feel to it, but very homely and serene. Plus all the rooms were painted wonderful colors which meant she didn't have to bother buying paint, because quite honestly she had no intentions of allowing her boys to run loose with paint that would stain her new carpet and wood floors. Oh, this how was just perfect.

"I'm beginning to think we should have paid the movers extras to put all this stuff in the right rooms," Odin spoke up, walking into the living room with two boxes in his arms. He set them onto the floor, careful not to drop them and break whatever was inside, and turned to his wife with a smile, holding his arms out and giving her a sweet kiss.

"I agree vehemently, but we didn't so we might as well just get it done without complaining. Though, it _would _be nice if we could get it done before the boys go off to school tomorrow," Frigga answered, wrapping her arms around her husband's neck. She didn't look forward to doing this all on her own all week.

"Well, at least you'll have Loki to help you tomorrow, Baldr too. He apparently has decided that he's going with his brother to the doctor for _moral support_. I think they're just anxious about going to school without each other. As much as the two of them bicker, they really do need each other," Odin laughed, shaking his head.

"Of course, they have that special twin connection. Then again, Thor and Loki have their special connection too. Loki is just absolutely loveable," Frigga said with a smile.

"Oh, gross! I hear my name being said with nice things and I come to see this. _Ugh_," Loki complained, walking into the room with a box in hand. He dropped it on top of another and dusted his hands off before putting them on his hips. "Father, Thor said there's an attic upstairs that's all fancy. Can't I move my stuff up there and have it as a bedroom?"

"You may not," Odin objected, pulling away from his wife. He followed Loki out of the room for more boxes, knowing this conversation was yet to end.

"But why not?" Loki pursued, hefting up another box.

"Because an attic is not a bedroom, that's why. And besides, it's haunted," Odin said gleefully, having a mental victory at the stunned look in his son's eyes. Loki had always been such a believer of ghosts and monsters, always had nightmares about them as a child. He was still scared of monsters in his closet and under his bed at night, although he denied it fervently.

Loki eyed him suspiciously, nearly dropping the box he was holding. "How do you know?" He asked hesitantly.

"The previous owner of the house killed her husband and ten cats in the attack, the real estate worker told us that's why the house was so cheap," Odin said seriously, turning away from his son. Later that night when he was woken up by a crying Loki and a wailing Baldr he would regret saying anything at all.

Loki dashed upstairs to find his brothers and tell them what he'd just learned, and when he heard their voices coming from the attack he quickly ran up those stairs as fast as he could. There he found Thor and Baldr standing in the large area talking animatedly, but he hurriedly went over and grabbed their hands and began pulling them towards the stairs.

"We can't be up here! Father just told me that some lady killed her entire family and twenty cats up here and hid their bodies under the floorboards! Let's go, it's haunted!" He exclaimed with wide eyes, struggling to make them move. They both looked at him doubtfully and Thor was the first to start laughing.

"You know that can't be true, they would have condemned the house. You're so gullible sometimes, Loki," He said, but he beckon Baldr to follow back downstairs anyways. "Even if it were true, ghosts don't exist."

"It wouldn't be ghosts, though, Thor!" Baldr said, glancing at his twin to show that he agreed with him even though he had laughed. "When someone dies with such strong feelings their spirits will stay in that place haunting it. Haven't you ever seen The Grudge?"

"No, it's not like that, Baldr! Don't say that," Loki exclaimed, covering his ears with his hands. He glanced fearfully at the door to the attic before swiftly kicking it shut. "Just lock it when no one's up there, okay?"

"It's alright; I would protect you if there was a ghost. I promise," Thor said with a twitchy smile, already planning the perfect prank for a later time. His brothers were just too easy sometimes; it was unbelievable they were only a year apart.

Baldr followed his brother back into their room and closed the door behind them. He watched as Loki walked over to their mattresses on the floor and sat down, staring at the wall contemplating.

"I don't believe him," Loki decided, looking at Baldr, who nodded in agreement.

"_I _would protect you. Well, I think I would but I could change my mind at the last minute. Okay, I might protect you from a ghost, I might not. I'll protect you from anything else. Promise," Baldr said earnestly, nodding his head enthusiastically with a smile. Loki studied him for a moment before deciding that he was being genuine and walked over to give him a hug; at least he had one truthful brother.

* * *

Later that night, Odin was sitting in bed propped up on the pillows reading a book. Frigga lay next to him with her own book and they both enjoyed the silent aura of the night, but it never lasted for very long. About half past midnight there was a shriek from across the hall, thudding as someone tripped over someone, and two seconds later their bedroom door swung open as Baldr and Loki came scrambling in babbling on about cats and old dead ladies in the attic.

* * *

It was raining heavily the next morning with a soft thunder rolling in the distance. Frigga watched out the kitchen window dismally before turning to her family. It was early and all they had for breakfast was cereal and milk, but she was planning on going grocery shopping after taking Loki to the doctors.

"Mother, why do I have to go to school if they get to stay home? I can help finish unpacking stuff, and besides, I haven't even found my school stuff yet. Like my uniform, can't find it," Thor complained with a mouth full of Lucky Charms.

"Don't talk with your mouth full and you can stay home," Odin told him, and Thor swallowed quickly and thanked him.

"Baldr, stop picking out the pieces," Frigga said sternly, swatting her youngest son's hands away from the box of cereal. Baldr pouted and withdrew his hand with only a few pieces of marshmallows that he popped into his mouth. However, he smiled when Loki scoot over a napkin full of the colorful pieces.

"Loki," Odin warned him, raising an eyebrow at his son's picky eating habits.

"What? I'm not hungry," Loki said, covering his mouth has he coughed lightly. Rainy weather always made his asthma act up, but he tried to hide it as best he could lest he be fawned over unnecessarily.

"Well, finish eating soon. Your appointment is in an hour and I don't want to be late, nor do I want you out in this weather. You'll catch a cold," Frigga told him, pouring him some more cereal. He never ate enough to satisfy her but lately his eating habits had gotten worse and he wasn't eating nearly enough and it was beginning to worry Odin too. She made a mental note to tell the doctor.

* * *

They had all gathered around Natasha's locker which was just outside the front office so they could scout the crowd of students for three faces that did not quite belong there, but as time ticked by they soon began to realize that the three boys from across the school were not going to show up.

"I thought the blondie said that they were coming to our high school," Clint said, leaning against the row of lockers with his hands in his pocket. They'd all gone over to help yesterday but they had only met Odin and Thor, who had insisted that they meet up at school on Monday, which was today but he and his brothers were nowhere in sight.

"Well, they might just be late. Speaking of late, we need to get to class before we all get in trouble again," Steve said, glancing at his wrist watch. "And we have a pop quiz in case you guys didn't know. Mr. Williams told me on Friday."

"Of course he did," Tony replied linking arms with Bruce as they sauntered through the hallways towards their classroom. "But Brucie and I will pass no problem, we're secretly geniuses. Shh."

"And yet I still have a better grade than both of you," Natasha said with an amused grin, pushing in front of them to walk through the door of their classroom.

"Wait, so let's go to the new kid's house after school and see if they want to hang out. Maybe if they're cool enough they can join our club," Tony said before they all scattered around the room to their assigned seats. "And by mean _join _our club…"

"Tony, we are not going to haze the new kids," Bruce groaned, pulling him towards their desk near the window.

"We have to! Unless you want to lose some good men to the _others_? Or the prep school kids? No, we need more people to defend our neighborhood or we're going to lose the playground to those jerks. I don't know about you, but that Thor kid looked pretty tough and we want that on our side, not fighting against us. Right? You know I'm right. What do you say?" Tony pushed on, sitting down next to Bruce glancing around at their friends. A curt nod from Natasha, a mischievous grin from Clint, and Steve avoided his gaze. It was a done deal.

_reviewers get to join their club c: please leave a review? :c_


	4. Chapter 4

The tree house was damp and muggy because of the rain, but that did not stop Nick Fury, Phil Coulson, or Maria Hill from climbing up the rope latter with their backpacks and opening the wooden windows to air out the inside and so that they could watch over the park while they did their homework together. This was their turf and unless it was storming outside or too cold, they never missed a day coming to their tree house and guarding the area from the other kids.

"Guys, I think there's a leak in the ceiling," Maria pointed out, looking up as another drop of water dripped onto her math homework. The two boys looked up at the ceiling and saw damp stains in the wood with little wells of water waiting to fall down on them.

Nick got to his feet and reached up, knocking twice on the wood before nodded slowly. The wood was a few years old, but it wasn't yet rotten and would hold up for another two years or so. "We'll just have to buy a few boards and nail them on the roof to keep out water. I think that should fix the problem," He informed his friends, sliding his belongings over so Maria could scoot out of the water drip.

"Then the problem would be getting the money to buy the wood boards. I have a couple dollars saved up that I will put in, but we're all going to have to chip in this time. I don't think Mr. Stark will fix it for us this time, not after we banned Tony for a week," Phil reminded them, thinking back a few months ago when one of the window panels broke off and they were unable to come because it was too cold. Thankfully Tony's father had kindly fixed it for them but asking twice wouldn't be right. It was _their _tree house after all.

Maria opened her mouth to say that she would gladly put in her twenty dollars that she'd gotten for her birthday last month, but before she could say anything there was yelling from down below and a rattling on the door, indicating that the rest of the group had arrived.

"Hey, let down the rope! We have something to tell you guys!" called the loud voice of Steve Rogers. Phil walked over to the window and peered down, grinning widely at the sight of his friends, and waved for Nick to open the door for them. In a few minutes the five had climbed up and the rope ladder was pulled up to keep anyone else out, and they all made themselves comfortable in their tree house.

"So what's the big news, then?" Nick asked, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.

"You know the house for sale across from Tony's house? Well, apparently a family bought it and they moved in this weekend. There are three sons our age and we met one of them yesterday," Natasha informed the three older kids.

"Yeah, and he looks pretty tough so his brothers must be too. We thought that we should let them join our gang to help protect the turf from the other gangs," Bruce added in.

"They have really weird names though because they're from abroad," Tony added in with a grin, earning a kick from Natasha who glowered at him.

"Shut up, Tony. You only want them to join so you can haze them," Clint shot back at him, defending his best friend.

"Alright, look here's what we'll do. You can bring them to the park and show them the tree house, tell them how things work. We'll watch from up here and make the final decision. If they want to join _then _we'll decide what to do about hazing," Nick informed them all.

"Well, get going then!" Phil said, looking around at the five of them standing there stupidly.

* * *

"Loki, are you sure we're supposed to be doing this?" Baldr asked hesitantly as he slowly poured salt around the perimeter of the attic. He wasn't quite sure _what _they were doing, just that he was pouring salt and Loki was drawing weird symbols on the wall with a pencil really lightly while Thor was attempting to make a strange circle on the floor with shoe laces.

"I saw this on Supernatural, trust me it works," Loki responded, squinting his eyes at the book he had opened on the floor that he was trying to copy symbols from. "It's either this or douse the house in gasoline and burn it to the ground, but father would kill us."

"Yeah but _why _are we doing this?" Thor piped in, finished with his job.

Loki sighed and tossed down his pencil, turning around to face his brothers and crossing his arms over his chest. "Look, I'm not living in a house that has evil ghost cats walking around the attic at night while we're trying to sleep. I don't think mother and father will let us sleep in their bed again anyways."

"You slept in their bed last night?" Thor snorted, giving his younger brothers a look.

"You would have too if you heard all the scary noises!" Baldr defended himself.

"He can't hear anything over the sound of his snoring," Loki said giving his brother a haughty look, and Baldr laughed. Thor rolled his eyes and walked over to the window, crossing his arms.

"It was just the wind and rain, no ghosts," He told them, nodding towards the grey sky. He glanced down the street to see if their parents were coming home but instead he found the group of kids from yesterday walking towards their house, only today they were all wearing matching clothes of black pants and white button up shirts – the school uniform. "Hey, look! It's the kids we were supposed to sit with at lunch today! Let's go say hi."

"No, we have to finish this!" Loki objected quickly, but was pulled down the stairs by his brothers. "Hey wait, you guys! Wait!"

"Come on, Loki!" Baldr complained, tugging on his twin's arm to hurry him along. "I wanna go make new friends!"

The three boys clambered downstairs and out the front door just as the group came to a stop in front of the house, staring at them with smiles on their faces and strange look in their eyes as if they were hiding something. For a long minute everyone just stood there waiting for someone to speak up and begin a conversation, and it wasn't until a messy haired boy stepped forward and broke the silence.

"Hi Thor, we have something to show you and your brothers," He said, trying to keep his eyes on Thor, but Loki could see him trying to sneak looks at him. He scoffed and turned his head away snootily, scooting closer to his brother.

"Baldr, Loki, these are the guys I told you about. Tony, Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Bruce. They invited us to lunch," Thor introduced them all.

"Hi!" Baldr said in a sing song voice, smiling widely as he waved at them. "I'm Baldr! Me and Loki are twins but we don't look alike! But we're brothers! All of us! Even though Thor and Loki pretend we aren't sometimes, I don't know why…"

"How come you guys weren't in school today? We thought you said you'd be there," Clint said, looking at Thor curiously and everyone nodded in agreement.

"Loki had to – " Thor begin to explain, but stopped himself short when Loki sent him a death glare. "Er, well, we hadn't finish unpacking and couldn't find our uniforms so our parents let us stay home."

"So you'll be there tomorrow?" Steve confirmed, just to be sure.

"Yes! We will! Can we still have lunch with you?" Baldr asked, looking at them hopefully.

"Yeah, but there's something we have to show you first, so come on," Tony said, waving his hand for them to follow and they all murmured in agreement. If these kids didn't want to join their group and protect the turf, they couldn't sit with them at school that was just Nick's rules since he was their leader. But once Thor and his brothers saw the tree house, there was no way they wouldn't want to. It's not like the prep school kids or the _others _had the tree house to offer.

* * *

"Wow."

It was an understatement to say the least but it definitely summed up the single thought shared by the brothers as they stared up at the largest tree house that they had ever seen. The ten minute walk to the park had been chilly with the drizzles of rain still coming down, but it had been worth it to be shown this magnificent park in the middle of the neighborhood. Why there was a random tree house in a local park they did not know, but they weren't going to question it, it was too amazing to be questioned. It looked like one of the things that rich kids would have in their backyards, almost like a mansion up in a tree only made of wood.

"Yeah, so this is _our_ tree house and _our _park, we have the rights to it," Tony informed the brothers smugly, crossing his arms and feeling pleased at their awed expressions.

"Technically it's a public area but we sort of claimed it for ourselves," Steve added in.

"Nick, Phil, and Maria protect it most of the time, since they're older. But there are other gangs that want the turf for themselves so we have to keep guarding it all the time," Natasha told them, glancing sideways at the brothers.

"Gangs?" Baldr asked looking confused, and Natasha nodded fervently.

"Not like city gangs that have weapons, but just the other neighborhood gangs," Bruce assured them before they got any bad ideas and walked away. They couldn't lose them now, there was too much potential in them.

"I don't understand," Thor said, turning to look at the group with a confused expression on his face. "Are you showing this to us to keep us away or - ?"

"No, stupid, we want you to join our group before the other guys get you in their clutches," Clint replied with a snort, earning a smack from Natasha.

"Look, it's like this," Tony said, wanting to clear up the confusion. "We have our gang, which is the five of us and the older three. This is our hangout area and the other guys aren't allowed to come here, they had to find their own parks but since we have the cool tree house they keep trying to overstep their boundaries. We need more people, we need _you _to join our group and protect the tree house."

There was a pause and they all looked at the brothers with hopeful expressions, but Thor held up a finger to say they needed a minute before dragging his brothers a few feet away to talk this out.

"Let's do it," He whispered quietly, sneaking a glance at what could be their new friends.

"Let's not," Loki object shaking his head. He absentminded rubbed up and down his arms to keep himself warm, it was getting chilly and he hadn't worn a jacket.

"But why not? This place is cool and I wanna see what's up there," Baldr said, looking at the giant tree house with wonderment in his eyes. "Please Loki? It will be fun! And you need to make friends, you never do since you're always out of school and – "

"Alright, point made, Baldr," Loki snapped, flushing slightly.

"Come on, Loki. You know you want to go home and tell mother and father that we joined a gang on our first day in the neighborhood. Just imagine their reactions," Thor persuaded poking his brother in the side. He grinned triumphantly when a smile tugged at his brother's lips.

"Alright, fine," Loki agreed finally, letting his arms fall to his side in defeat.

They headed back over to their new friends and cheers were made all around. Little did they know they were being watched from up in the tree house. Nick turned away from the window and faced his two friends, nodding shortly.

"Phil, I want you to debrief them tomorrow…"

_reviewers get to help Loki perform an exorcism on the attic c:_


	5. Chapter 5

Thor thanked the high heavens that it was still raining the next morning because it made the students at school abandon the parking lot and sidewalks and head inside to class rather than stand outside and get wet. For some unfathomable reason, Frigga and Odin were insisting on taking them to school for their first day to meet the principal and have a meeting. Being the new kids was going to be awkward enough but having their parents walk them into school was just plain embarrassing and would give the students reason to make fun of them.

As the car pulled into a parking space, the three boys suppressed sighed and slowly unbuckled their seat belts and grabbed their backpacks, sliding out of the car one by one. They walked towards the school entrance with their heads ducked, trying to hide their faces so no one could see them, but Frigga just chuckled at their actions and Odin hid a smile, both knowing that they were embarrassing their children. It didn't stop them from heading straight to the main office with them, though.

"Sorry, this is my fault," Loki murmured to his brothers, knowing fully well that the only reason their parents wanted to speak with the principal was because of his health issues. They worried too much over him, it was completely unnecessary. He'd passed out _one _time at school and suddenly they wanted emergency plans discussed.

They were ushered into an office where a grey haired man sat behind a desk, smiling warmly at him and beckoning them to take a seat in front of the desk before starting his welcome-to-my-school-here-are-my-rules speech. Ten minutes Thor and Loki stopped listening and began making faces at each other to show what they thought about all the rules. They stopped when Odin nudged them with his foot; they had to turn away from each other to keep from laughing.

"Now, I have your schedules here along with your locker combinations. All grades share homeroom classes, so you'll all be in the same room which is just down the hall to the right," The Principal informed them, handing them each a slip of paper with their schedules on it. "My secretary will point you in the direction, go on and have a good day at school."

Taking their dismissal, they grabbed their bags and hurried out of the office, excited to start their first day of school. Once they were outside and away from the adults, they huddled around the corner and tried to figure out what classes they had and if they shared any.

"Of course we would have every single class together," Loki groaned, seeing that he and Baldr had identical schedules.

"Hurray! That's great, I don't want to go to class alone," Baldr cheered happily, smiling widely at his brother. He glanced at Thor's schedule and saw that they all had the same lunch period, which relieved him greatly.

"Well, I guess we should head to homeroom. And guys, try not to cause any trouble on our first day, okay? Loki? You'll try to make friends won't you?" Thor said, concern flickering across his eyes. Loki didn't have the heart to object, and so he nodded his head before starting down the hallway. This wasn't going to be like their old school, he wouldn't let it.

* * *

Principal Sturne closed the door to his office and returned to his desk with a somber expression on his face as he faced the parents before him. He clasped his hands together and nodded his head, ready for a serious discussion that they had brought to his attention a week ago when they came in to enroll their children in his school, having requested his secretary to set up a meeting with him today.

"It's been brought to my attention that you have expressed concerns about your son Loki," Principal Sturne began, ready to tell them all about the adept nurse they had on staff.

"Yes, he suffers from asthma and lately his health has been taking a turn from the worse. He can normally handle it himself but when it happens in a public setting he tends to get stressed and that makes the situation worse," Frigga informed the man, thinking back to the many times at the previous school where they'd get a call from the nurse.

"But aside from his breathing issues, Loki suffers from psychological scarring, anxiety if you will, because of an event that happened when he was very young. It's because of this accident that we had to move here and I would like to keep it on the low down but…" Odin said, his voice trailing off grimly.

Principal Sturne looked at the couple with a confused yet slightly worried look on his face.

"What exactly are we talking about here?"

Frigga and Odin shared a grim look.

"We want to make sure that our boys are safe and protected in this school. Baldr and Loki were attacked when they were four and Loki was kidnapped and held hostage for two months. We have reason to believe that the group that did this are back to try again."

* * *

"Thor, hey Thor! Thor, _Thor_ come sit with me, Thor!"

Thor sighed in relief as he found an enthusiastic Tony waving him over to the empty seat next to him by the window. It was his second class of the day and he was pleased to see a familiar face so early in the day; hopefully he'd share classes with his other new friends too. Squirming his way through the rows of desk, Thor smiled widely at Tony and dumped his book on the desk and the second he sat down Tony opened his mouth and began talking.

"Yeah, so we're all going to the tree house after school. We do it every day, actually, so you and your brothers gotta come too. Except Brucie boy isn't coming today because – well I don't know why he isn't in school today he isn't answering his phone – but I assume he's not coming with us today which okay but yeah. _So_, you guys in?" Tony asked animatedly, leaning against his elbow.

"My parents won't be home until six so I don't see why not. Will we get to go up in the tree house?" Thor asked hopefully, wanting to know if the inside of the magnificent structure was just as cool as the outside.

"Well, not quite," Tony said, dropping his voice to a whisper as the teacher walked in. Talking in class was not tolerated, which was a personal downfall, so he pulled out his handy dandy notebooks and began to write before sliding it over to Thor a second later.

_First you have to meet Phil to get debriefed. Then if he Okays you then you gotta meet Maria. If Maria deems you worthy you'll get to see Nick. Then the real fun starts – he'll give you guys your first assignments and if you finish them then you'll really be part of the group and get to go in the tree house. We can't let just anyone in; we still have to deem you trustworthy against the others and the prep kids._

Thor frowned slightly before scribbling back an answer in his messy handwriting.

_What do you mean assignment? And who are these others and prep kids you keep mentioning?_

Tony glanced up at the teacher and smiled, opening his book before answering as if he were actually taking notes instead.

_Sort of like an initiative, a hazing if you will. But don't worry nothing dangerous or stupid. The others are a group of freaks that go to our school but I don't think they'll approach you guys because they keep to themselves. But the prep kids, they go to the private school a few minutes away and they're a bunch of stuck up snobs that _will _seek you out and bribe you into their group or try and get you to spy for them. Just say no, they're bad news._

_reviewers get to pass notes with Tony and Thor c:_


	6. Chapter 6

In all honesty he couldn't care less about the tree house and turf war these kids were so high strung on, but Loki found himself being dragged into the whole shebang after school when Thor had met them at the school gates and informed him and Baldr that they were going to meet one of the older kids for their initiation into the group – which Loki had no interest in what so ever. Still, he knew that they would all get in trouble if he went home without them; their parents had a strict rule that where one went, all three of them went.

"Thor, I thought hazing was illegal. What if they do mean things to us?" Baldr said in a whiny voice, tugging on his older brother's sleeve. Loki couldn't help but secretly agree with him. They didn't really know who these kids were, just that they were having a turf war. For all they knew, these kids could be the bad ones and their "enemies" the good kids. He would go along with whatever his brothers decided to do, but by no means did he have the intentions of trusting these people right off the bat.

And trust for Loki was a very big deal. For example, he was a trustworthy person that anyone could depend on no matter what – but he couldn't be trust if, for example, there was a giant puddle in the middle of the sidewalk that just looked so tempting.

"Hey, Thor? What's that over there?" Loki said suddenly, pointing across the street. Thor stopped speaking and glanced over to the other side of the street, furrowing his brows curiously when he saw nothing out of ordinary.

"What's what, Loki? I don't see any – _Loki! _What the heck?!" He exclaimed loudly, stumbling through the ankle deep puddle.

Baldr slapped his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing but Loki made no attempting to suppress the giggles that burst out of his mouth in amusement. It didn't last for long when he found himself falling backwards onto his rear in the wet, muddy grass. His eyes widened and his mouth dropped open in shock, and he looked at his brother accusingly.

"Oops, my hand slipped," Thor shrugged with a smirk walking on and leaving his brothers behind.

"Baldr, help me up," Loki said, sticking out his hand.

"I don't think so," Baldr objected, giving him a disapproving look as he stepped over his brother's leg and jogged over to Thor.

"You guys are mean!" Loki yelled after them, scrambling to his feet. He grimaced at the coldness of his now wet pants that were covered in mud. "You guys! Wait! I'm wet and muddy, let's go home!"

"Come _on, _Loki!" Thor called back, pausing in the distance and tapping his foot impatiently. Grumbling under his brother, Loki quickened his pace and ran to his brothers, sticking out his tongue at Baldr who was still muffling giggles – he was next, Loki would make sure of it.

By time they arrived at the park the others were already there waiting, hanging out on the merry-go-round and swings, one of them perched at the top of the slide watching over them all. The entire area was covered in large puddles, so by time they reached their friends all three of them were soaked, but so were the others. The tallest of the group stepped forward, nodding at the others to go and occupy themselves while he spoke with the new recruits.

"My name is Phil Coulson and I'm third in command. I've been told that you have shown interest in joining our gang," He said, sticking out his hand as a greeting. His polite mannerism and way he held himself reminded them all of army brats.

"Tony has explained what the purpose of this gang is and who the enemies are. My brothers and I would gladly join alliances with you," Thor informed him, looking at his brothers for confirmation. Baldr nodded his head eagerly with a smile on his face, and Loki shrugged his shoulders carelessly and glanced at his nails with disinterest.

"Before you can go any further, first you all have to prove yourselves to me. I'm giving you your first assignment, if you accept," Phil answered, getting straight to business.

"Of course we accept," Thor said immediately. Phil looked at him uncertainly but continued on anyways.

"Fine, then your first assignment is this: befriend one of the others and get into their good graces. They'll show you the laboratory at school and that's where they have our flag for the tree house. Steal it and bring it to us by next Friday," Phil instructed them.

"Who are the others though? We don't know anyone in school yet," Baldr asked curiously, looking at his brother for an answer, but Thor shrugged. He knew who they were but not _who _they were. All the faces had blended together at school.

"You'll have to figure it out on your own," Phil answered, smiling apologetically. "Meet back next Friday with the flag and you'll get to hang out here. Until then…"

"Until then, get off your turf. Got it. Let's go, you guys," Loki said, grabbing his brothers hands and pulling them away. This entire situation was ridiculous – who did these kids think they were claiming rights to a public area?

"How are we supposed to do this if we don't even know _who _we're supposed to steal from? And I don't want to steal, it's not nice! Especially if we're lying to these _others _and pretend to be their friends just to stab them in the back. That's mean," Baldr voiced his concerns as they walked back to the house. It was beginning to rain again but they were already wet so there wasn't much to make a fuss about.

"Yeah, we don't even know if your friends are trustworthy. What if they're the mean ones and they're hogging the park all to themselves without sharing? That's not really fair," Loki added in.

Thor looked at his brothers and shook his head, holding his back pack on top of his head to keep his hair from getting wet.

"No, Tony told me who they were today in class. The others are a group of freaks that are like super smart but really weird, I guess it's a group of girls and two boys. And the prep school kids are the ones that go to private school but they live in the neighborhood. Tony told me that they were really bad and get in trouble all the time. He said they drink and do drugs and beat up people. So that's why they're protecting the park, to keep it safe," He explained as they turned the corner to their block.

The driveway was empty which meant their parents weren't home yet, but none of them knew when their mother would be home from shopping. They quickened their pace so they could hurry and get home and changed before she got back and saw them wet and dirty.

"You know, something?" Loki said suddenly, looking at his brothers. They shrugged their shoulders and waited for him to finish speaking. "If these kids are so gung-ho about having us, they could at least _talk _to us and get to know us instead of being all top secret and stuff. I don't even know their names."

"I remember the pretty girl's name! Natasha!" Baldr put in, although he did agree with his brothers. These kids weren't really making much of an attempt to actually befriend them.

"Loki, if you want to be friends with them then you have to put in an effort. You start a conversation, you get to know them. You can't expect them to do all the work," Thor reminded them, pulling out his key as they walked up to the house. "Besides, you've known them for a day maybe? Give it some time."

"Whatever, I don't care anyways. I'm taking a shower first," Loki replied, heading straight for the bathroom. The door shut and a moment later they could hear the water running.

"Hey, Thor?" Baldr asked, following his brother upstairs.

"What?" Thor replied, shimmying out of his wet pants and tossing them in the corner of his room before going to a box and digging around for a clean pair. "What is it, Baldr?"

"Do you really think this is a good idea?" Baldr asked hesitantly, leaning against the doorframe. Thor glanced at his brother with a frown, nodding confidently.

"It's friends – which you like. It's fun – which I like. And most of all, it's mischievous – which Loki likes. Stop worrying, Baldr. And go change your clothes, I think I just heard the car pull in."

* * *

Loki lay on his back with a book in his hands above him, reading silently and listening to the storm blowing outside. Flipping the page, he switched positions and rolled onto his stomach, smiling lightly as a flash of lightning lit up the room. Storms were always so fun and he loved the aura they gave off; it was the perfect time to curl up with a book and read, and the attic was the perfect place for privacy. However, the time to himself was cut short when he heard the door open and close and the stairs creak as someone began heading up.

Putting his book aside, Loki stood up and brushed his pants off as his father appeared before him. He vaguely wandered if he was going to get in trouble for hiding up here when he was supposed to be helping Baldr unpack their stuff and put their room together.

"What are you doing up here, Loki?" Odin asked, looking around at the barren room. They hadn't really put much thought into what they were going to do with the attic since they had a garage and basement for storage, but perhaps it could be turned some sort of hang out for the boys since they seemed to have taken an interest in it.

"I was just reading and listening to the rain. It's really cool up here, especially since we performed the exorcism to get rid of the ghosts," Loki answered, tugging on his sleeve sheepishly.

"You did an - ? What?" Odin replied, laughing at the thought of his children holding candles with dark hoods over their faces yelling 'demons be _gone_!'

Loki shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the window, peering outside as the rain splattered against the rattling glass. It was a really good view of the street, he could see everything from up here – like the fact that the kid across the street has his curtains open and their gang was having some sort of meeting. Rolling his eyes, he turned back to his father and crossed his arms.

"How come I can't have this as my room?" He asked for what felt like the hundredth time since they'd moved in. He'd yet to get an acceptable reason – because we said so, it's not fair to your brothers, it's haunted, because we said so.

Odin sighed crossing his arms and gave Loki a look for the constant badgering about bedrooms. "Loki, we've been over this already. It's not fair – "

"Why?" Loki interrupted in frustration, looking at his father pleadingly. "Thor and Baldr would still get their own rooms and it's not like it is any bigger!"

"It's haunted – "

"I told you we performed the exorcism."

"Your mother and I – "

"Just want to baby me and keep me close so you can make sure I won't have an asthma attack and die in my sleep. Father, please, I'm not that delicate," Loki finished, looking at Odin with determined eyes.

Odin closed his mouth and said nothing. He was right, of course and it wasn't fair because Loki could take care of himself. Sighing as he ran a hand over his face, Odin nodded slowly.

"I'll make you a deal," He began, and Loki looked at him curiously. "Finish this school year up with no detentions, make some good friends, and try to keep your health up the best you can. If you can do that then I will think about letting you move up here this summer."

"How many friends are we talking?" Loki asked, following his father towards the stairs.

"No less than five, and they have to be a good influence on you. And not one detention, do you understand - what is all over the floor? Is that _salt_?"

_reviewers get to help Loki vacuum the salt up c:_

_is it just me or does anyone else like good parent Odin? _


	7. Chapter 7

"I think we should help them," Steve said quietly, flipping the page of his history text book. It was just before lunch time on Wednesday afternoon, two days after Phil had given Thor, Loki, and Baldr their initiation assignment, and he was sitting in the school library for study hall finishing up some homework with Natasha and Bruce. "One of us should point out the others to them at least."

Bruce nodded in agreement, pushing his glasses up his nose. "There is no way they're going to figure out who the others are; there are just too many people in the school. I think I share a class with the brown haired kid, I'll point out the leader of the others to him then."

Natasha rolled her eyes and flicked her red hair behind her back, but said nothing to her friends. Personally she didn't think the new kids should get any help in their assignment – Phil had said they had to do it on their own. Besides, _she _hadn't gotten any help in her initiation a few years ago in elementary school so why should they? If a ten year old girl could stand up in front of the entire playground and declare the slide as their territory, then a couple of boys could steal back a little flag from the others; it was not that hard of an assignment. Nick was going easy on them, but she knew that what he really wanted was for them to scout out their enemies and see what they were up to.

"Why do you think they moved in the second half of the school year anyways? It's kind of weird, most parents would at least wait until summer or let their kids stay at their old school for the last few months," Steve wandered inquiringly. He looked to them for answers but Bruce shrugged his shoulders, no information to give.

"Ask Clint, I bet he can find out for you," Natasha offered, flipping her book shut. There was no use trying to study when she wasn't in the mood to do it. "I heard that their parents had a meeting with the principal on their first day too. There must be some sort of issue that needed discussed."

The three of them shared a glance, each sharing the same thought. Perhaps they should have done some research and dug up any information on these boys before inviting them to join their clubs. They really didn't know anything about them, for all they knew these kids could turn out to be weirdoes like the others or secretly be snobs like the preps. It didn't seem like it but still, they knew nothing about them except their names.

"Let's just wait and have Clint swipe their records from the secretary. Until then we should try and get to know them better. I'll sit next to Baldr in English class and talk to him," Bruce decided and they all nodded in agreement.

"Tony has three classes with Thor; I'll tell him what's going on," Steve added in, glancing at the clock. Class was almost over and he was looking forward to going to lunch, he was getting hungry.

"What about the other one? What was his name again, Loki?" Natasha asked, following the boys towards the exit where the rest of the class was waiting.

"I don't know, but we'll ask what his classes are at lunch," Bruce replied as the bell rang.

* * *

Loki sat at the lunch table fiddling with his bottle of apple juice, brown bagged lunch sitting untouched in front of him. He glanced around hoards of students walking about the cafeteria for any sign of his brothers but couldn't see either of them. Baldr had stopped in the bathroom – damn him and his tiny bladder – and Thor was standing in the lunch line, which left Loki sitting alone at a table waiting awkwardly for a familiar face to show up. So when one of Thor's new friends took a seat across from him, he mentally sighed in relief even if he couldn't quite tell them apart yet.

"Hi, Loki," The messy blonde said, unpacking his lunch of a sandwich, bag of Cheetos, and a bottle of orange soda.

"Hi, um, I forgot your name. Sorry," Loki said, looking down at his lap and twiddling his fingers together. It was either Steve or Clint that much he knew, the brown haired two were Bruce and Tony and the girl was obviously Natasha.

"It's Clint, I'm in your third hour class," Clint replied, snorting and shaking his head in disbelief – they had met several times in the past few days and he'd had no problem retaining names. "Anyways, I sat with Baldr in class, he seems pretty interesting. Really talkative, a little weird though. No offense. You guys are twins, aren't you?"

Loki nodded slowly, unwrapping his ham sandwich and grimacing slightly; he hated ham lunch meat, it never tasted good.

"That's Baldr for you. He's really naïve but he's a good friend. We're not identical, complete opposites," He answered picking off the lettuce. "Honestly, all of us are really different but we get along better than most friends do. We're very close."

"I have an older brother named Barney, but aren't close at all. He doesn't live with us either," Clint informed him, looking across the cafeteria and waving over Natasha and Bruce.

"Us?" Loki asked curiously, taking a sip of apple juice.

Clint nodded and looked down, a strange look in his eyes. "Yeah, uh, I live with Phil and his family," He said, then changed the subject as his friends joined the table.

Loki listened half-heartedly to them talk about something that had happened in their homeroom class earlier this morning, but paid more attention looking around for his brothers. He could see Thor at the register paying for his lunch, but Baldr was still nowhere in sight. Sighing to himself, he vaguely wandered if his air head of a brother had managed to get himself lost and decided that if Baldr wasn't there in five minutes then he would go search for him.

As Thor and the other blonde, Steve, joined the table, Loki scoot over to make room and gave his brother a questioning glance, sending a telepathic message if he'd seen their other brother but Thor just shrugged and began eating.

"So what made your family move in the middle of school year?" Natasha asked after getting a look from Bruce to start a conversation.

"Our father opened a new branch to the business and transferred buildings. It was a longer drive and he was never home so we decided to move closer," Thor informed them all. "Plus they wanted out of the city and into the suburbs because of my brother's poor health."

Loki narrowed his eyes at Thor, kicking him under the table.

"Speaking of _brothers_, has anyone seen Baldr? I think he might have gotten lost," Loki said changing the subject before they could start asking questions.

"Tony's missing too, usually he's the first one here," Bruce commented, looking around the lunch room. Sometimes Tony would make new friends and sit with them at lunch, but he wasn't anywhere in sight. "Maybe they're together?"

"Doubt it, I saw Tony talking up some girl in the hallway," Clint answered.

"Well, I'm going to look for Baldr. See you later," Loki said, grabbing his trash and throwing it away before heading out of the noisy cafeteria.

"I should go too, Baldr's probably crying in a bathroom because he couldn't find the cafeteria," Thor said, chuckling at the thought as he followed his brother out.

Bruce turned in his seat to watch as they walked out and after a minute of making sure they didn't turn around and come back, he faced his friends with a serious look on his face. Steve and Natasha knew what he was about to ask, but Clint just continued eating his Cheetos clueless to what was about to be asked of him.

"Hey Clint, we've got a new assignment for you," Natasha said, reaching over to snag a chip before he ate them all. He sent her a look and pulled the bag away protectively, only giving in when she pinched his arm.

"And that would be?" He asked, licking his cheesy fingers.

"Well, you would be breaking at least a dozen school rules and if you're caught you could get detention or worse – _expelled_," Steve said with a worried look on his face, not having thought of the risk earlier. Clint, however, seemed pleased to hear this and gave them his curious attention.

"Sounds fun, what is it?" He asked, taking a swig of his soda.

"You have to steal Thor, Baldr, and Loki's records from the office," Bruce informed him slowly. Clint stared at them with a blank expression on his face, but slowly a smile formed and there was a glint in his eyes.

"I can get it done by the end of the day."

* * *

Baldr sat on the desktop with a light brown baby bunny in his arms, gently stroking the soft fur. He looked up and smiled at the teacher at the front desk who so kindly allowed him to stay in his classroom during his free period rather. Mr. Roh was a substitute teacher filling in for the biology class because apparently the real teacher had some sort of accident two days ago.

"She's so sweet and soft!" Baldr laughed as the bunny nuzzled it's nose into his stomach. "What's her name?"

"His name is Artemis and he actually has a twin brother named Lune, but it's in another class according to my students," Mr. Roh answered, watching the young boy closely.

"I have a twin brother! His name is – Loki! Hey, Loki, Thor! Come here!" Baldr said suddenly as he saw his two brothers walk pass the classroom door. He carefully slid off the desk and put the bunny back in his cage as his brothers entered the room.

"What are you doing, Baldr? You're missing lunch," Loki said, relieved to see that his twin was not crying alone in a bathroom lost and scared.

"Well I sort of got lost but then Mr. Roh found me wandering the halls and said I could hang out in here. There's a baby bunny, look!" Baldr said waving them over to the cage.

"Thanks for letting my brother hang out in here. We're all new here so we don't really know the way around the school quite yet," Thor told the teacher politely.

"Oh, it's not a problem at all. I understand completely, this is only my second day as a substitute here. I don't know where the cafeteria is either or I would have directed him myself. I'm Mr. Roh, by the way. You boys are welcome to have your lunches in here any time you'd like," Mr. Roh said, a subtle smile on his lips as he studied the brothers.

"I'm Thor and this is Loki. Thanks for the offer, we'll keep that in mind but already found some new friends to eat with. Right guys?" Thor said, but his brothers ignored him for the fuzzy bunny. Mr. Roh laughed and shook his head, taking great interest in these three boys.

"No worries, but I would love to get to know the three of you. Something tells me that we're going to get along just great…"

_reviewers get to pet Artemis and feed him a carrot c:_

_Queen Elsa of Asgard: The others are not the Chitauri^^ they will be revealed in two chapters. _


	8. Chapter 8

They were never going to finish unpacking their belongings, not any time soon at least. Loki sighed tiredly as he used the scissors to tear open the packing tape of another box and pulled the flaps open only to realize that the stuff inside did not belong in the living room, but the kitchen. He sighed again and gently kicked it towards the kitchen before moving to a new box. He'd been working for an hour but had only finished unpacking one box so far. It was a strenuous chore and he still had to finish working on his own bedroom but his mother had insisted on getting the living room finished first so they would feel more at home.

_I would feel more at home if I had my own room, _Loki mused to himself, absentmindedly tossing some throw pillows onto the couch. _Summer isn't too far away though; I can make it until then. I just got to work on making friends because it's not like I get into trouble at school – I'm rarely ever there._

Snorting to himself, he tossed the empty box into the pile and looked around for where he had tossed the scissors. His attention was distracted when a car drove by outside and he looked out the window eagerly thinking it was his mother and brothers returning home with food. They'd gone out shopping awhile ago and had promised to bring back pizza; he was hungry and wanted to eat soon. Instead of the sight of his family, he found himself staring across the street where Tony Stark lived and the boy in question was standing on the front porch with some strawberry blonde girl. There was a smile on his face, a twinkle in his eyes, and he was talking animatedly to the girl whose back was turned. Just as Loki was about to turn away, Tony seemed to catch his eye and got a worried look on his face.

Rolling his eyes, Loki turned away and bent down to pick up the scissors and cut open a new box. Again, it was mislabeled so he hefted it up and walked down the hallway towards his father's office and deposited the box on the oak desk. They weren't supposed to go in there, but he was only leaving a box so he figured it was okay. Besides, it had been several years since he and his brothers had decided to make Odin's office pretty with their new markers – he had _clearly _over reacted. They weren't children anymore.

_Although this place could be brightened up a little, _Loki thought considerately, tapping his chin as he looked around the small room. It wasn't worth getting in trouble for so he walked back to the living room just as the doorbell rang; he could only guess who that could be. Walking to the front door he undid the lock and pulled it open, letting in a gust of air.

"Can I help you, Stark?" Loki asked raising his eyebrows. Tony grinned at him and pushed past, inviting himself into the house. He looked around the foyer and nodded appreciatively – not quite a homey feeling to it, but then again everything was still in boxes.

"Nice house you got here, Loki. Granted I've been here dozens of times before, but still. Anyone else home?" Tony said, wandering through the house as if he lived there.

"What are you doing? It's rude to invite yourself into someone else's home," Loki said quickly following after him. He skidded to a halt when Tony suddenly whirled around to face him with a serious expression in his eyes.

"You can't tell the others who I was hanging out with," He told Loki, a hint of desperation in his voice. Loki gave him a strange look and leaned against the hallway wall and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Why would I care who you hang out with?" He asked in a voice that clearly meant he really did not care nor expected an answer.

Tony shrugged his shoulders and shuffled his feet, feeling very put off. He was a talker, a friendly and outgoing person, but right now his good qualities had left him defenseless and in the mercy of a kid he barely knew.

"Pepper is my best friend, but she's one of the _others _and my friends would freak out if they knew," He explained, vaguely wandering what exactly would happen if Nick ever found out he was cahoodling with an enemy. He would most likely be banned from the tree house and kicked out of the gang forever with no chance of redemption. If Loki told any of them…

"It's none of my business who you hang out with," Loki replied eventually. He made a mental note of the name Pepper – it wasn't very common so that would make it easier for him and his brothers to find these _others _and get the ridiculous assignment over with. "I won't tell your friends, but honestly it's none of their business who you decide to be friends with. They should accept you no matter what."

Tony stared at him incredulously for a moment before smiling slightly. "Yeah, I think so too. But still, secret friendships are kind of fun, don't you think?"

"I dunno, I guess so. I don't really have any friends," Loki said, beckoning Tony to follow him into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled out two cans of soda, tossing one to the other.

"What about from your old school? Thor talks all the time about his other friends," Tony replied, trailing after him into the living room. Loki shrugged and took a seat on the couch, nudging the throw pillows out of the way for Tony to sit with him.

"I didn't go to school very often, I get sick a lot. Baldr and Thor are really the only friends I have, but I'm okay with that," Loki said.

"I can understand that," Tony said, placing his can of pop on a box before turning his body to face Loki. He lifted up his shirt and showed off a very prominent scar in the middle of his chest. "Two years ago I was in an accident and I got shrapnel in my body that would have pierced my heart, so I was in the hospital for a long time. I had a lot of friends before then, but only the gang stuck with me through it all."

"Wow, that looks horrible," Loki said quietly, staring in awe and disgust at the scar.

"Eh, it's not too bad. At least it's not where everyone can see it. So what are you doing this weekend?" Tony asked, pulling his shirt back down.

"Nothing, I don't think. We're still busy unpacking everything," Loki said, gesturing to all the unopened boxes.

"I can come over and help if you want. Extra hands, it will get done quicker," Tony offered with a smile, mostly wanting an excuse to check out the rest of the house. He was nosy and not afraid to admit it.

"Maybe, but my parents will want to meet you and everything. They want me to make friends or I can't move into the attic this summer," Loki informed him, glancing discreetly at the ceiling when he heard something creak upstairs. The exorcism _had _worked…or at least he thought so.

"One, we are friends now that we've shared a drink. That's something special you know. Two, why do you want to live in the attic. Three, what exactly are you staring at?" Tony asked, tilting his head up to look at the ceiling.

"I think the attics still haunted by the ghosts of the old lady that killed her cats. But me and my brothers tried to exorcise them out so they can't still be there," Loki said, a shiver rolling down his back at the thought of being in the house alone – _where _was his mother?

"And you want to live in it?" Tony confirmed, a smile twitching at his lips. There had never been a lady who killed her family or cats in this house – just an elderly couple that moved to Hawaii a year ago. He didn't have the heart to say it though; it was kind of amusing to see Loki worried.

"I just want my own room. Thor snores and Baldr and I always share," Loki replied with a shrug.

"Huh, well I don't know about ghosts but when I was a kid I used to hear weird things in the back yard and at night there would be shadows of something moving. The crazy part was, a hundred years ago these kids buried their friend in the back yard. Creepy, right?" Tony said with a serious face, laughing on the inside when he saw the petrified look on Loki's face.

"I – wait – what? Are you being serious, Stark?" Loki asked, jumping slightly as the house creaked.

"Serious as a heart attack," Tony sang. "And stop calling me Stark, my name is Tony. Anyways, I should probably head back home. Thanks for having me over, see you at school tomorrow."

"Wait, no don't leave me here alone!" Loki exclaimed, but Tony merely waved goodbye and let himself out the front door. Loki sat frozen on the couch, trembling slightly as the wind blew against the house, and a second later he jumped up and darted into the kitchen to grab the phone, quickly calling his mothers cell phone. It took a few rings before she finally answered it.

"Hi, sweetie, we'll be home in about ten minutes. Getting the pizza now," Frigga answered.

"Mother! This house is haunted and I don't want to live here anymore! Call grandma, I'll go stay with her in the nursing home!" Loki demanded, looking around the kitchen fearfully. It was starting to rain again, heavily, and he was beginning to wander if this entire town was haunted and the rain was a curse. But it had been sunny the day they moved in…

Frigga laughed on the other end, making a mental note to swat her husband when he got home for filling their son's head with silly nonsense. "Loki, the house is not haunted. Besides, I don't think the nursing home would allow you to live with your grandmother. Now, would you like anything else while I'm here? A salad or some breadsticks?"

"Do the breadsticks have garlic on them? Garlic keeps away ghosts, right? Or is that vampires?" Loki replied, trying to remember what it was.

"Alright then, we'll be home shortly. Bye Loki."

"Wait, no, mother I – darn it," Loki sighed, placing the phone back on the counter.

* * *

Later that night, Loki sat on the floor of his bedroom watching as Baldr and Thor attempted to put together their bunk beds. He had tried to help them, but after reading the directions wrong and causing them to put it together incorrectly they shooed him away awhile they fixed it.

"Hey guys, guess what? I found out who one of the girls from those _other _kids. Her name is Pepper and she has long blonde hair," He offered up, hoping to strike up a conversation. It was too quiet, save for the grunt of annoyance from Thor every now and then.

Baldr glanced over at him, holding up a wooden bar while Thor screwed it together, and gave his brother a smile. "Really? 'Cause in English class Bruce pointed out the leader of the others, some kid named Erik Selvigg."

"Good because we only have a few more days to get that flag," Thor added, nudging Baldr to slide over the next piece. "I wander if these assignments will get harder."

"You wanna know what else?" Loki asked as picked up a piece of tape off the floor and began playing with it.

"What?" Baldr replied, attempting to turn his head to look at him.

"Tony came over today and I think we sort of became friends with each other," Loki informed them, smiling shyly at the thought of having a friend other than his brothers. He liked the idea of being friends with Tony; he seemed nice enough and pretty interesting too what with his battle scar and secret friendship with the enemy.

"That's great, Loki!" Baldr said happily, scrambling to his brother to give him a hug. Unfortunately he'd been holding up a piece of the bed, letting go caused the entire thing to fall to the floor.

"Baldr, I'm going to kill you," Thor sighed, shaking his head in disbelief.

_reviewers get to sleep on Baldr and Loki's bunkbeds c:_


	9. Chapter 9

The house was quiet when Tony woke up. He could not hear his father bustling around downstairs getting ready for work, and nor was there the sound of rain against his window as he'd grown accustomed to hearing this past week. Rolling over, he peered at his alarm clock and saw that it was six-thirty and then turned to look out the window where sunlight was peeking through his curtains. It was then that he remembered that his father had left very early for a business meeting; he'd be gone for the entire weekend.

Yawning loudly, Tony swung his legs over the side of the bed and shuffled out of his room and towards the bathroom. After brushing his teeth and relieving his bladder he sauntered downstairs and went to the kitchen to look for something to eat for breakfast. He groaned disappointedly when all he could find was a box of cereal that he didn't like and some bananas, which he didn't like either.

_Damn you, Howard. You could have at went grocery shopping before you left_, Tony thought grumpily, slumping against the table. He was going to start harassing his father to hire a maid or a cook or some sort of person that would keep the house together when he was away on business, which was often enough.

Sighing softly, Tony wandered into the living room and collapsed on the couch, leaning against the back to look out the window. Staring at the blue house across the street, he vaguely wandered what Loki and his family was doing. Were they awake already? Getting ready for school? Had their father left for work as well? And what about their mother, what did she do during the day? Did they have family breakfasts together like Steve's family, or did they scatter about their business like Bruce's?

His mind was full of questions that he wanted answers to, and being the nosy person he was, Tony quickly dashed to his room and got dressed, grabbed his school books, and walked out the front door in about five minutes. Kicking the door shut behind him and not bothering to lock it, he trekked across the street and walked up the front steps before knocking three times on the Odinson's door and ringing the doorbell twice and waited for someone to answer.

The door cracked open and a blue-green eye peered through before yanking the door open, revealing a smiling yet tired looking Baldr with his brown hair a mess.

"Hiya, Tony," Baldr said, muffling a yawn. Clearly he had only just gotten out of bed. "What are you doing here so early?"

"It's almost seven, kid; it's not early," Tony answered with a chuckle. "I was just wandering if you guys wanted to walk to school with me?"

"Uh, sure. We just got up though, so you'll have to wait. But come inside," Baldr said, pulling his arm before he could object. Tony dropped his school bag by the door and followed Baldr through the living room and to the kitchen where he could hear more voices, distinctly recognizing the sound of Thor's voice since he heard it so often at school.

The sun was shining through the kitchen window, a soft breeze blowing through the floral curtains and drafting the aroma of freshly baked pancakes. The white cabinets and pale yellow walls gave off a very homely feeling, but it was the family sitting together at the cloth covered table that sent a feeling of jealousy through Tony's stomach.

"Tony, how wonderful to see you," Frigga said looking up from where she was making a fresh batch of hotcakes at the stove. She gave him a soft smile, a motherly look that he had not seen since months before his mother had died. It made him want to join this family in their moment together, to feel as if he was a part of something special.

"I'm sorry for barging in," Tony apologized returning her smile. He couldn't help himself, she just had this aura about her that made him feel good. Of course, he'd only met her once before a week ago but still. He liked his friend's parents, they were really nice.

"No need to apologize, son. Sit down, have some breakfast. I know Howard can't cook to save his life. My beautiful wife is the greatest cook in the world, once you eat her food you'll want to come back for ever meal," Odin said, beckoning Tony to take a seat amongst his family. He sent a loving look at Frigga who smiled affectionately at him as she brought over the plate of pancakes and set it in the middle of the table and taking a seat next to her husband.

It felt quite strange to be accepted so quickly into the meal, but Tony wasn't complaining. Honestly, it felt pretty good too and those pancakes really did smell delicious. He helped himself to some breakfast and thanked Frigga when she handed him a glass of orange juice.

"How is your father, by the way? It's been awhile since we've last spoken," Odin said as he reached over to take the maple syrup away from Thor who was drowning his pancakes in the gooey substance.

"He's doing well; just left for a business trip early this morning. You know each other?" Tony replied, sending the man a curious look.

"We've worked on a few projects together over the years. Business partners, if you will. It was actually Howard that directed us to this neighborhood when we were house hunting," Odin informed him, and Frigga nodded appreciatively. All the other homes they had looked at were very nice, but none of them were in beautiful neighborhoods like this.

"Father, yesterday Tony told me that when he was a kid the previous family discovered a body buried in the back yard. Perhaps this neighborhood isn't as _peaceful _as you thought it was," Loki added in matter-of-factly, looking at his friend for confirmation.

Tony covered his mouth to keep from spitting out the drink of juice he'd just taken and quickly swallowed, his shoulders shaking with suppressed laughter.

"Loki, please talk about pleasant things at the table," Frigga sighed, giving her son a look.

"I was only joking," Tony pointed out, causing Thor to start laughing along with him. He hadn't realized how gullible Loki was even though Thor had told him about it the first day they met. Loki was gullible, Baldr was naïve, and it was too easy to mess with both of them.

"Are you kidding me, it was a lie?" Loki said eyes widening as he looked at Tony in absolute betrayal. He wanted nothing more than to throw bacon at him and Thor but unfortunately he had bad aim and last time he'd done it, he hit his father instead. "I spent all night terrified that a half-decayed body was going to break into the house and get me!"

"Loki, for the last time, there is no such things as ghosts, monsters, zombies or any other silly idea that you come up with," Frigga sighed, always regretting having let him read R.L Stine books.

* * *

"Hey, see that girl over there? I think that's the Pepper girl."

Baldr tilted his head curiously and turned in his seat, scanning the classroom until his eyes landed on a pretty blonde haired girl in a pink skirt. She was concentrating on the assignment the teacher had given and was the only person in the class that hadn't instantly paired up with a friend to work on it.

"What about her?" Baldr whispered quietly.

"Go over and talk to her," Loki told him, nudging his brother with the textbook. "Be cute and try to get some information out of her about the stupid flag."

"Why can't you do it? You're cuter than me," Baldr complained, crossing his arms with a pout. Loki looked at him incredulously and swatted his shoulder, pointing towards the girl. Baldr sighed in defeat and grabbed his book and paper and walked over to the pretty girl.

He stood there awkwardly for a moment before clearing his voice and when she turned to look at him he smiled shyly at her.

"Hi, um, you're Pepper, right? Do you want to work together, maybe?" He asked hesitantly, shuffling his feet. He bit his lip and widened his eyes slightly, giving off his best baby face that his brothers had assured him a millions was a sure win for any situation. "I'm Baldr by the way."

Pepper smiled sweetly at him and brushed her strawberry blonde hair out of her face, showing off her dazzling blue eyes. Baldr blushed slightly and quickly took the seat next to her when she gestured for him to join you.

"How do you like the school so far, Baldr?" She asked, twirling her pencil in her fingers.

"It's different but I like that I have the same schedule as my brother and we share lunch with our older brother," Baldr informed her with a smile.

"That's your brother, Loki, right?" Pepper asked, glancing across the room where Loki was silently working alone. "And you three sit with Nick Fury's group, the _Avengers_."

"Is that what they call themselves?" Baldr said, laughter in his eyes and Pepper nodded smugly.

"I'm serious; Tony came up with it after those prep school kids trashed the park," She told him, shaking her head. "Did they take you to the park yet?"

Baldr opened his mouth to reply but paused momentarily to think about his answer before speaking. He didn't want her to know what exactly was going on. Pepper seemed really nice and friendly; it didn't feel right to lie to her nor be a backstabber by pretending to be friends.

"Yeah they did and it was cool, but it seems really unfair that they won't let just anyone play there. I mean, it's not _really _their park," He answered slowly, speaking his true feelings for the first time.

"I agree completely, it's a public park that everyone should be able to use freely. You know, you're pretty cool, Baldr. Maybe you could eat lunch with my friends and I one day. We don't eat in the cafeteria though," Pepper offered him with a smile.

"Where do you go?" Baldr asked curiously.

"Well, Erik, one of our friends, is the captain of the science club so he has the key to one of the laboratories and that's where we all meet up. We usually hang out there after school too. Why don't you come to lunch with us today and I'll show you? I know my friends would love to meet you."

Baldr smiled widely at her, excited at the thought of gaining new friends. He wasn't even thinking about the flag anymore.

"Only if I can bring my brothers too."

_reviewers get to have some of mama Frigga's fantasitc pancakes c:_

_After tomorrow updates aren't going to be everyday. I only had 1-10 pre-written and now we've caught up and so I gotta write some more for you! But don't worry, it only takes me like a day to write. Oh and the next chapter we get to see who the others are^^_


	10. Chapter 10

Pepper discreetly snuck glances at the three brothers from the corner of her eyes as she led them through the school. Now, Pepper was not the type of girl to swoon of boys. She was too occupied with getting good grades and balancing cheerleading practices with debate team meetings, but she would not deny herself a chance to check out a hottie should the chance come – and the chance had definitely come because by the high heavens, the Odinson brothers were Gods. And not only were they good looking, but they were all so polite and kind; both Thor and Loki had greeted her with a kiss on the hand and telling her how lovely she was. Baldr had whispered that sort of greeting was how they were raised to treat a lady.

When Thor caught her eye and smiled softly, Pepper looked away embarrassed and cleared her throat as they turned a corner that led to the science classrooms. "I should warn you before we get there, my friends are a bit fanatical when it comes to the laboratory. Don't be offended it one of them makes you feel inferior to their intellect – I'm not quite sure they know that they come off rudely," She warned the brothers, coming to a stop in front of a closed door with a plaque that read _Science Lab #3._

"That shouldn't be a problem. Loki and Baldr have very high I.Q's," Thor responded, looking proudly at his younger brothers. They both always scored so high and got amazing grades but he was just average. Not that it bothered him at all, they just had more patience and longer attention spans to actually study for longer than an hour. "I'm sure they'll be able to give your friends a run for their money. Loki can be extremely snarky when put given the chance."

Pepper laughed when Loki looked quite pleased with himself. These boys – they were going to be the death of her. She pushed open the door and stepped aside for the boys to walk in and view the room. It wasn't like any of the other laboratories since Erik had they keys to it and they'd claimed to for themselves, decorating it as they pleased.

"Guys, _guys_! Hey, put that down for a minute and come meet – " Pepper began to say to her friends who were standing at one of the lab tables messing around with some weird contraption. However she was cut off as a dark brown haired girl with glasses pushed her aside and stepped into her place.

"Hey there! I've never seen you before," Darcy Lewis said, smiling widely as she eyed Thor up and down. Luscious blonde hair that stopped just above his shoulders, blue eyes that looked brighter than the sky outside, and – she peeked behind him – his tush was perfect.

"Darcy," Pepper whispered in a warning tone, giving her a look.

"What? It's not often we get good looking guys in here! No offense, Rhodey, Erik," Darcy answered shamelessly. Pepper sighed and mentally slapped herself – perhaps she should have given her friends a warning. As Darcy put it, they probably weren't used to cute guys.

"This is Thor, Baldr, and Loki and they're new to the school this week," Pepper explained to her friends. She knew that some of them had a class or two with the brothers but they were so concentrated on school work in class they always failed to notice anything going on around them. Well, at least Jane, Darcy, and Erik did. Peggy and Rhodey were pretty normal like herself, she liked to think. Before she could finish introductions, a sandy haired girl stepped forward with her arms crossed, eyeing the brothers suspiciously as if she could read what their real intentions were.

"I'm Jane, sub-leader of the science team. This is Erik, captain of the science team; Darcy who's a cheerleader and part of the debate team; and finally Rhodey and Peggy who are part of everything because they're going to enlist in the military after we graduated. What sort of academic activities are _you _part of?" Jane asked, not realizing how snide she sounded. Pepper sighed again; this was beginning to be a problem.

Thor eyed her warily, not quite appreciating the tone of her voice. This must be what Pepper had warned them about. This Jane girl seemed to be the ring leader of this group and if that was true, it was no wonder his friends did not like these others.

Baldr glanced at his brother worriedly, knowing the icy look in Thor's eyes. He didn't like when people insulted his younger brothers and could be quite mean, and Baldr did not want that. He liked Pepper and wanted to be friends with her, but he knew that if his brother insulted her friends then everything would go down the drain, so he quickly stepped forward and spoke before Thor could say anything.

"We did not join any clubs this school year since we were busy moving and all," Baldr explained, smiling at the group of kids before him. "But Thor is really good at sports _and _he enjoys reading a new book every week, and I use to be part of the – "

"Sports and books? I doubt that," Jane cut in, giving Thor a disbelieving look. At this point Pepper shook her head and turned away in embarrassment.

"Jane, don't be rude," Peggy whispered, giving her friend a stern look but Jane just brushed her off. Peggy rolled her eyes and beckoned for Rhodey to follow her back to what they were doing before – she did not enjoy being a part of Jane's charades. It was no wander not many people like them.

"Is there something wrong with enjoying two different hobbies? Or do you believe that one must be a blundering oaf to play sports and not have the mental capacity to enjoy a good read?" Thor asked, his voice growing thin. This wasn't a good idea coming, but he knew that these people were never going to be their friends – they were only here to steal that damn flag, but he wasn't even thinking about that.

The argument pressed on and Baldr turned his attention away from his brother; there was no stopping him now. He walked over to Pepper and gave her a tiny smile which she returned, each sending the other a telepathic message of apologies.

"Are you part of any clubs?" Baldr asked over Thor and Jane's voices.

"Darcy and I joined the same clubs this year," Pepper informed him as Darcy walked over to the two. "Debate team and cheerleading. What about you? You were saying something before Jane cut you off."

Baldr opened his mouth to say that he and Loki had both been members of boy scouts when they were younger and the gardening club at their previous school, but before he could get a word out Darcy cut him off with an excited statement.

"You should join the cheer team! Try outs for next year's team is in a month and we could totally use some guys. You totally look like the type to be a cheerleader," She suggested with glittering eyes. Baldr looked at her with a confused expression.

"Oh, you should!" Pepper exclaimed softly, excited by the thought of a guy on their team. Darcy was completely right; Baldr would be the perfect addition to the team. He seemed bright and energetic and his smile was so happy; he would fit in perfectly with the rest of the girls.

"But isn't that weird?" Baldr replied hesitantly, looking between the two of them. Pepper smiled warmly at him and patted his shoulder encouragingly.

"It's only weird if you let people convince you that it is. Besides, it would look really good on your profile when applying to colleges. Male cheerleaders have the opportunity for some really good scholarships. You should totally think about it," She told him convincingly.

"I'll think about it," Baldr agreed with a smile, sort of liking the idea. It did seem rather fun and perhaps he could even convince Loki to join with him. "I don't really know how to do anything, though."

"Don't worry about it, Pepper and I will teach you some routines," Darcy offered gleefully, already pulling out her phone and sending messages to the rest of the team that they might have their first male cheerleader.

The conversation ended there as Jane's voice cut through the air.

"Your lack of intelligence is infuriating!"

However, before Thor could think of a retort Loki, who had been staying silent the entire time, stepped forward and came to his defense.

"You are an embarrassment," He said quietly, his eyes sharp as daggers. "Look around you; can't you see how embarrassed your friends are of your behavior? You say my brother lacks intelligence, but at least he is mindful of how he speaks to others. Not once during this entire conversation has he come close to insulting you, yet all that comes out of your mouth are spiteful words. I feel embarrassed _for_ your friends, you insufferable girl. Thor, Baldr, let's get out of here. I can't handle listening to her voice anymore."

As the three brothers left the room, a single tear rolled down Jane's cheek that she quickly wiped away. Not one of her friends had come to her defense and she didn't know if that hurt worse than Loki's cruel words.

"Tony was right, those guys are freaks," Thor complained as he and his brothers walked through the halls, trying to get as far away from that laboratory as they could.

"I don't know about that," Baldr objected with a smile. "Pepper and Darcy are really nice and I bet Peggy and Rhodey are too if we got the chance to know them. I don't like Jane very much though, she was so mean. I don't know about that Erik kid though, since he just stood next to her without saying anything."

"Well, that's all very nice but I went for one thing only," Loki added in, turning around to walk backwards so he could look at his brothers with a smug expression. He pulled his arms from behind him and held up a black flag with a weird bird symbol on it.

"_Ta-dah!"_

* * *

It was Clint's turn to host the weekly sleepover.

They would stay up all night watching movies and eating uncanny amounts of junk food that would later give them stomach aches and they would share gossip like old ladies. All their parents had jobs that took them away on business trips and they would stay the night at whoever's parents were gone that weekend. Both Tony and Phil's parents were gone for the weekend and normally they would go to Tony's house if it was an option because of his father's large screen television, but Clint had insisted they come over his house because he had something to share with them.

With the door shut securely and Phil downstairs doing homework, the group gathered around the two beds and huddled secretly on the floor where Clint had three manila folders spread out in front of them.

"Well, here they are. Which one should we read first?" Clint asked in a hushed voice, looking around at all his friends. They all got concentrated looks on their faces as they studied the folders.

"Start with Thor since he's the oldest," Natasha decided finally, gently pushing the first folder with Thor's name and picture on it towards Tony. He took it carefully and slowly opened it, giving his friends one last look before looking inside.

"What does it say?" Bruce whispered, peering at the door thinking Phil would come in and catch them any minute now.

"Give me a minute," Tony replied, waving him off.

"Well don't take too long," Steve told him, and Tony gave him a look.

"There isn't anything out of the ordinary. He has a few detentions and one suspension for putting a putrefied frog in some girl's purse," Tony informed them all, and they chuckled lowly at the last part. "There's a note saying that he should be called if one of his brother's has a health emergency during school, but that's all."

"Okay, that's boring. Next," Clint said, grabbing up the second folder that was Loki's. It was a little thicker than the other two, but there were extra pages in it. As he skimmed through the pages, a frown appeared on his face and a strange look in his eyes. "Whoa. That's just – I mean, _wow_."

"What does it say?" Bruce said again, leaning forward to take the file. After a minute his eyes widened and he looked at his friends in alarm. "Wow."

"Care to enlighten us?" Steve asked, making a grab for the folder, but Natasha and Tony got to it first.

"It says that he suffers from asthma problems and has missed a lot of school. Apparently he had an attack at school before Christmas and an ambulance was called – he was in the hospital for two weeks," Tony said.

"Keep reading. Look at the second page," Clint instructed him.

"These are notes from a psychiatrist," Natasha said with a frown, taking the file out of Tony's hands. "What the hell…it says that he was kidnapped when he was four years old and wasn't rescued for an entire month. He and Baldr were attacked at church when they were four and somehow Baldr got away, but Loki was abducted."

"What else does it say?" Steve asked in a hushed voice, horrified at what he'd just heard.

"Well it says that he and his brothers went through a lot of therapy afterwards but have otherwise moved on from the event and are not affected by it, save for a panic attack here and there when they're alone for too long. Wow. Wow, that's crazy," Tony said, putting the file back down.

They sat in silence for a minute, not quite sure what to think. That sort of thing only happened in movies and books, right?

"Should we look at Baldr's?" Bruce asked eventually, looking at the final folder. When no one answered he reached over to grab it and began to scan over the papers inside. "There isn't really anything except he shows signs of anxiety when he's away from his brothers. It also says that he's very protective of his twin, but I guess that makes sense."

"'_On a final note, the Odinson brothers are extremely loyal to their friends and family. They are happy young boys that will strive in a positive environment, recovery has been achieved_.' Well if they weren't interesting before, I'd say they were now," Steve said, reading over Bruce's shoulder. They all murmured in agreement, but before anything else could be said the door swung open and Phil walked in. They all quickly tried to hide the stolen files, but it was too late.

Phil raised his eyebrows at them and looked around at each of them before saying in a completely un-amused tone, "I just got a phone call from your new friends. They want to meet at the park so they can tell us all something."

He beckoned for them to go on, but stopped Clint before he could follow after his friends.

"I know that you stole those files from the office, Clint. I'm disappointed that you would do such a thing, especially to go through and read them," He said quietly, dissatisfaction dripping from each word.

Clint lowered his head in shame, a sick feeling pooling in the pit of his stomach. He did not like Phil being upset with him. "I'm sorry," He said softly, unable to look him in the eye. If it had not been for Phil, he would be stuck at home with his father and elder brother and that place was an absolute hell. Phil had so graciously offered him a place to stay with his family, even giving up half his room for the younger boy. Phil gave him more affection and encouragement than his own father, and now he'd disappointed him.

"Just make better decisions in the future, okay? I know that you wouldn't like it if someone went through your file and read all your personal secrets. Besides, I don't want to you to get in trouble," Phil told him, patting him on the shoulder. Clint nodded and slowly turned to walk away, his head still down, but Phil grabbed his arm and pulled him back to face him. "Come on, don't be like that, Clint."

"I'm sorry, I won't do it again," Clint said with a desperate tone, looking at Phil pleadingly with unshed tears welling up in his eyes. The older boy smiled softly and pulled him in for a hug, rubbing his back soothingly.

"You're always such a baby," He whispered as Clint clutched at his shirt as if he would push him away.

"I just don't like disappointing you," Clint whispered, his voice muffled by Phil's shoulder. He took a deep breath to hold himself back from crying, he didn't want to be a cry baby.

"Everyone makes mistakes, Clint, you just got to learn from them. Don't cry, alright? Let's go before it starts getting dark outside. Maybe I'll even be nice and buy pizza for you all," Phil said once Clint pulled away from him. Clint nodded and wiped his eyes, smiling at Phil before they followed after their friends.

The sun was beginning to set when they finally arrived at the park and the sky was turning various colors of orange and pink. Thor, Baldr, and Loki were already waiting when they all got there – waiting on the merry-go-round, spinning around wildly and laughing like children. As the gang came to a stop ready to ask what the brothers had wanted, they noticed something black waving around the in the cool evening breeze.

Their flag was back, right where it belonged hanging off the tree house and fluttering proudly in the sky.

"Three days!" Thor called out, his image blurring as they whizzed around.

"I'd say that's a record!" Loki added in, clutching tightly at the bar so he didn't fly off.

"Weeeee!" Baldr yelled gleefully.

The gang looked at each other with wide smiles on their faces. It didn't matter what sort of darkness these brothers had gone through, the fact remained that they were here today smiling and having the time of their lives and it was quite clear that they were all going to have a lot of fun together.

"Last one to our house doesn't get any chocolate cake!" Thor declared, jumping off the spinning toy. Instantly they all took off without a second look back, the brothers wobbling along disoriented.

"Wait! I need to debrief you for your second mission!" Phil called after them all, but none of them heard him. Laughing to himself he shook his head and turned to walk in the opposite direction. Nick was going to get a kick out of these boys, they were definitely something interesting.

_reviewers get to have chocolate cake with them c:_

_Baldr and Pepper are going to have such a cute and sweet friendship!^^_


	11. Chapter 11

The attic was full of pillows and blankets, the eight teenagers lounging around comfortably. Pizza boxes, bags of chips, and cans of soda were scattered around the floor. There was a small television that was playing _Jurassic Park_, but no one was really paying any attention to that. Instead they had broken off into groups and were having ten different conversations. The only one not joining in the conversations was Loki who sat against the wall watching the scene before him. It wasn't that he didn't feel included and nor was it that he had no interest in befriending these people, he was just content to sit back and watch.

It was interesting, to say the least. They had only met less than a week ago and yet here they were having a sleepover like they were childhood friends. Thor and Natasha, who apparently had several classes together, were getting along like best friends. For reasons Loki did not understand, they were discussing the best way to tackle a person and disarm them. On the other side of the attic, Baldr was sitting with Bruce and Clint, munching on snacks and spazzing over a video game that was due to come out soon. Within a minute, Steve was abducted into the conversation, leaving Tony to crawl over to Loki and sit in front of him.

Loki looked at him, taken aback that he was smiling widely at him.

"Hi?" He asked unsurely, clutching the pillow in his lap.

"Hi there. Why aren't you over talking with everyone else?" Tony asked curiously, scratching his nose absentmindedly.

"No reason, I just like watching people," Loki answered with a shrug, unconsciously wringing the material of the pillow in his hands. It wasn't a lie, but he didn't want to admit that he wasn't exactly sure which group to join in on. Secretly, he was happy that Tony had come to talk to him.

"Can I see you bedroom?" Tony asked suddenly, and Loki frowned in response.

"My room? How come?" He asked, although he didn't object. He stood up and beckoned Tony to follow him downstairs.

"I'm just curious," Tony replied.

Loki walked over to his and Baldr's room and pushed open the door, standing aside for Tony to enter. It was a decent sized room that fit their bunk beds and dressers and a shelf that contained various books and Baldr's massive collection of My Little Ponies. The walls were painted a light blue color and already they had a few posters hung up. Neither of them had finished unpacking their belongings so it still lacked their personal touch. Still, he felt rather pleased that they had gotten as much done as they had – Thor only had his bed up and boxes of clothes open rather than put them away.

"So you like S.E Hinton?" Tony guessed, gesturing to the posters on the wall that were enlarged covers of _The Outsiders _and _Rumble Fish_. Loki nodded as he sat down on his bed, smiling faintly as he looked at his prized possessions.

"She's my favorite author. Well, her and Michael Thomas Ford. I loved his book _Suicide Notes_," He said enthusiastically, enjoying nothing more than a conversation about his favorite books.

"You know, a year or two ago I read this really interesting book but I can't remember what the title is," Tony commented as he continued walking around the room. He stopped in front of the shelf, scanning over the books, and nodding appreciatively at the Ponies. "It was about this girl who was like in Juvvie or something and she's finally allowed to go back to school and she meets this quiet box and writes on his arm and they like meet up in her dreams or something. I don't know, it was kind of weird but the idea was interesting."

"That sounds like a book for girls," Loki said, a grin tugging at his lips, and Tony sent him a glare.

"I can appreciate girl books! I mean hey, at least I read. How many guys will admit to that?" He said proudly as he walked over to Loki and sat down next to him. He flopped backwards onto the bed, staring up at the top bunk. "You know, bunk beds are cool. I used to have one when I was a kid but after I jumped off the top bunk and broke my ankle, my dad made me get a regular bed."

Loki laughed and shook his head, imagining an eight year old Tony pretending to be a superhero and falling off the bed. "You're crazy," He said, looking at Tony with a smile.

"Completely but you'll grow to love me," Tony answered with a wink.

The conversation ended there when Loki heard his name being called from downstairs. Knowing that it was getting late and he had to go take his medication, Loki told his friend that he would be back in a few minutes and headed downstairs. He smiled as he walked by his father and Odin playfully attempted to trip him, and headed into the kitchen where his mother was finishing up the dishes. She glanced at him and waved to the counter where his daily inhaler and a tiny cup of vile tasting liquid were.

"Are you having a good time, sweetie?" Frigga asked, placing a plate in the dishwasher. Loki looked at her, mouth closed tightly as he waited thirty seconds after inhaling. He let out his breath and made a face before grabbing the little cup.

"Yeah," He responded, plugging his nose before tilting his head back and swallowing quickly. He grimaced at the taste and whined, doing a little dance before grabbing the water and chugging it. "That is so horrible! Why does the doctor insist I take it?"

Frigga rolled her eyes and closed the dishwasher before wiping her hands dry on the towel. "Don't be dramatic, Loki. Now, your father and I were thinking about going out to the movies. Will you all be fine home alone?" She asked, reaching over to brush the black hair out of his eyes. It was getting long, both his and Thor's, and it drove her crazy. They were beginning to look like girls.

"We'll be fine, mother. I'll lock the doors and don't talk to strangers and make sure we all go to bed before ten," Loki answered sweetly, batting his lashes at her.

"Perfect! See darling? I told you they could handle themselves. Now, about that hotel room I was talking about," Odin said, walking into the kitchen. Loki's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he looked at his father in disgust before dashing away before anything else could be said.

"Odin," Frigga said with twinkling eyes. Odin sent her a wink and held out his arm to her, and together they left the house full of teenagers for a night alone.

* * *

Baldr was content where his life stood.

Surrounded by friends and happiness, there wasn't much more to ask for. He was loved and he had felt pain, and that made him balanced on the inside. Life was good and Baldr felt blessed that all he had been graced with. And now that he was in a new home, a new school, and had new friends there was so much potential to live for and he was going to take advantage of it all. But what made him happiest of all was to see his family strive in that same happiness that he felt, especially Loki. Especially Loki.

Partially tuning out from the conversation around him, Baldr looked across the room where Loki was talking animatedly with Tony and Clint. There was a smile on his face and his eyes sparkled as he talked; liveliness in his face that Baldr hadn't seen in awhile. He couldn't help but smile just seeing his brother getting along with their friends.

"So what do you think our next mission will be?" Thor's voice broke him from his thoughts and Baldr turned his attention back to those around him. The question seemed to garner everyone's attention because within a second they all scoot closer to join in the conversation.

"It's hard to say. Maria is a tough cookie. Phil's sort of a push over," Tony began to say.

"He is not!" Clint objected.

"As I was saying, Maria is pretty badass. She's second in command and I'm pretty sure her and Nick are dating so whatever the mission is they'll come up with together and it won't be something easy like finding a flag," Tony continued on.

"Good because that was _too _easy. They were all too distracted being embarrassed by that one girl that they didn't even notice me taking it," Loki said haughtily, wriggling his shoulders quite pleased with himself.

"What even happened?" Natasha asked curiously and they all nodded in agreement. They hadn't talked about this yet, but now it was story time and they all wanted some juicy gossip. Besides, when it came to the others, there was always something to tell. However, before any of the brothers could start their tale someone else spoke up.

"Hey guys, come look at this," Bruce said, turning to grin mischievously at his friends. "You'll never guess who's headed this way."

_updates are not going to be everyday from now on. I had chapters 1-10 already written when I started posting them and now we're caught up so I gotta start writing more^^_


	12. Chapter 12

The sun had just set over the distance of the horizon, leaving a dark shadow stretching over the land like a menacing demon claiming the area. The temperature had dropped to a chill and a light wind blew through the trees, causing the last of the singing birds to stop chirping. As the streetlights turned on, two groups of teenagers stood face to face in the middle of the road, arms crossed and cool looks on their faces. Forever long minutes they just stared at each other, waiting for the other to break the silence first. Each of them had varying thoughts running through their minds as they stood down.

Loki stood in between his brothers, a smirk tugging at his lips as he stared intimidatingly at Jane Foster who was glowering at him. He vaguely wandered if this was going to turn into a rumble, like socs versus greasers, but the thought didn't last long. There were too many girls and – not to be sexist - Pepper and Peggy didn't look like the type of girls who would fight.

Natasha stood next to Clint with her hip jutted out and her arms crossed, eyebrows raised coolly as she watched the others. This was so stupid but she couldn't help but want to just tackle them to the ground. She glanced sideways at Thor, wandering if he would follow her if she dived into action.

And finally, Pepper stood in the middle of her friends ready to break the silence. A million questions were whizzing through her mind but the one that kept repeating itself was _why _had Baldr betrayed her like this? Sure they'd only really been friends for a day but still, it hurt that he had used her just to get a flag for his friends.

"Alright, what's the deal here?" Steve asked finally, looking at each and everyone one of them until his gaze landed on Jane, who spoke up in response.

"We demand an apology from all of you!" She stated boldly. "Especially from you, boy with the long black hair."

Loki snorted and shook his head in disbelief. This girl, she had a lot of nerve.

"Are you going to apologize to Thor?" He shot back, taking a step forward.

"Jane didn't steal from you, why would she have to apologize?" Erik answered for Jane, moving protectively in front of her.

"Uh, technically she did. All of you did. You all came to our park and stole our flag; therefore _you _are in the wrong here. No apologies will be made on our side until you apologize on behalf of your thieving conundrums," Tony replied, all of his friends nodding in agreement.

Pepper opened her mouth to reply but shut it quickly and held up a finger to indicate one minute, and she and her friends quickly walked away and huddled into a group.

"They are right, we did take their flag first," Peggy whispered in a low voice. She didn't want them to hear that they were admitting to their mistakes, but she did not appreciate hypocrites and most definitely didn't want to be considered one.

"I guess we should apologize," Rhodey agreed, looking crestfallen. "Man, I hate apologizing."

"Just pretend we're apologizing to just Tony, okay? We're all friends with him so that should make it easier," Pepper suggested to her friend, and Rhodey nodded considerately.

"Ha, we should use that against him! Blackmail him into something or we'll tell his friends who he hangs out with when he's not with them," Jane said, eyes lighting up excitedly at her brilliant idea. Unfortunately, no one else seemed to think it was brilliant except for her.

"I don't know, Jane, that's kinda unfair," Darcy said doubtfully, giving her best friend a apologetic look.

"What's unfair is the way that kid treated me today and none of you even stopped him!" Jane exclaimed, her eyes welling up with tears. Peggy repressed a sigh and patted Jane's back soothingly, wanting to remind her that they had already apologized twice and she needed to get over it. Honestly, if it weren't for Darcy and Pepper, she wouldn't be friends with Jane. She was too obnoxious and was bringing down their reputations.

A few feet away, Baldr watched the group with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. These people just did not get along; he was only just realizing that now. He liked Natasha and Clint and the rest of the guys, but he also liked Pepper and wanted to get to know her and Darcy better. However, he didn't think that if he was friends with them than the others would accept him into the gang.

Biting his lip anxiously, Baldr tugged on Loki's shirt and nodded his head to the side, indicating that he wanted to talk to his twin in private. Loki gave him a curious look but followed him into their yard to see what was going on.

"Loki, I don't know if I want to be part of their "gang" anymore. I mean the idea is kind of cool but…" He began, his voice trailing off.

"But you don't really like their morals," Loki finished for him, nodding understandingly. He too felt the same way. He liked Tony but he didn't particularly like their gang, it was ridiculous and made them all look like pompous jerks.

"I want to be friends with them, but I also want to be friends with Pepper and Darcy but I don't think that I could side with either of them. Like, I don't want to join one group for another, that's silly," Baldr continued on, glancing over at the others who were still talking quietly.

"Forget about them, then. If everyone around here is ridiculous enough to fight over some dumb park then I don't want to be a part of that. If they want to be our friends, _any _of them, then they can do so with acceptance that we join nothing," Loki decided boldly, reaching for his brother's hand and squeezing it encouragingly. "What do you say, Baldr?"

"I say we go tell Thor," Baldr agreed, knowing that it was more than likely that their older brother would agree with them.

They headed back to their friends and pulled their brother aside, and just as they were finishing telling him where they stood and Thor nodded in agreement, the others walked back over to the group with their final decision. Stepping forward as spokesperson, Rhodey looked at them confidently and began to speak.

"We apologize for stealing the flag from your tree house. If you and your new friends stay away from us, we will stay away from you, and that includes bases. Do we have an agreement?"

"Apology _denied_."

"Not a chance!"

"Crossing our territory is asking for war!"

"Get real, losers."

They were children, all of them. There was absolutely no point to any of this; the entire situation was ridiculous! Claiming a public area and refusing to allow people access to the tree fort, being rude to others who were proudly apologizing…

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I want to be part of your group anymore," Baldr spoke up, defiance clear in his eyes. "Pepper, Darcy, I'm sorry that we stole the flag from the science lab, but I didn't use you to get it. I think you guys are kind of cool and I'd like to be friends if you still want that, but I'm not going to be part of this war between all of you. Good night."

"I'm not sorry for anything, but I agree with Baldr. You guys are crazy," Loki said with a laugh, following his brother back to the house.

Everyone had shocked expressions on their faces, unsure what to think of the sudden change of plans. Eyes moved to Thor and he shifted uncomfortably.

"I…agree with my brothers. I won't be part of anyone's groups, but if you all would like to remain friends then I would be much honored. See you in school Monday."

_Who's going to see Captain America today?! not me -_-_


	13. Chapter 13

It was apparent that they were not welcome to join their _friends _for lunch in the cafeteria, much to their dismay. With their bagged lunched of tuna salad, crisp apples, a small bag of Sun Chips each, and milk cartons, the Odinson brothers sat around the teacher's desk in Mr. Roh's classroom eating in silence with somber expressions on their faces. The minutes ticked by slowly and hardly anything was said, merely sighs and lame attempts at small talk. After having seen the smiling faces just a few days ago, Mr. Roh couldn't help but wonder what had changed to make these students so glum today. He wanted to know, to get on their good side and get to know each of them.

Smiling lightly, the older male set down his cup of coffee and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap as he began a new conversation. "Such grave faces in here today. Surely you're not the same three boys I invited to lunch a week ago!" Mr. Roh said brightly, trying to stir up some explanations.

Thor shrugged his shoulders as he picked apart his sandwich, not particularly enjoying the tuna salad. Baldr managed out that he didn't know before taking a swig of milk, not in the mood to really talk about it. The only one that didn't seem too bothered by the fact that they were now friendless was Loki, and that was only because he was used to being alone with only his brothers as companions. Either way, it didn't really matter to him whether those kids wanted to be friends or not, but it did bother him that they turned their backs so quickly to his brothers.

"It's just that this school isn't turning out as _friendly _as we assumed it was. I, for one, would much rather be back at our previous school where we know people aren't so judgmental to people outside of their cliques and it's okay to befriend outsiders," Loki informed the teacher, recalling that his brother's friends were all sorts of personalities that clashed and yet managed to get along with everyone. He didn't find himself particularly fond of Sif, Fandral, Hogun, and Volstagg but he couldn't say that he didn't appreciate their acceptance of him.

Mr. Roh nodded and pushed his glasses up his nose before leaning forward to rest his arms on the desk. "That's understandable and I have to admit that I am of the same opinion of this student body – but don't tell anyone! Yes, the students here just don't seem very accepting outside their little circles."

"Pepper and Darcy tried to convince me to join the cheerleading squad for next year; they said not to let anyone else convince me it was weird if it was something I wanted to do. If they were accepting of that and the fact that we'd been hanging out with Bruce and the rest of them, she should still accept my friendship now. I did apologize to her even though I didn't really do anything wrong," Baldr added in, hurt clear in his voice. He'd tried talking to the girl the previous hour, but Pepper had ignored the note he'd passed to her and kept her attention on the teacher.

"You want to try out for cheerleading?" Thor asked with a laugh, but he quickly coughed and dropped the smile when Baldr sent him a glare. "Good for you, dare to be square I say."

"Says the boy who reads trashy romance novels," Loki shot at him with raised eyebrows. Mr. Roh hid a smile and watched in silence; these boys were rather interesting to say the least.

"So? It's basically porn in novel format! Same thing as watching a porno," Thor retorted defensively, throwing a Sun Chip at his brother.

"Well, it's not any different than joining the team! Think about it, guys. Pretty girls in little skirts, we get to lift them in the air and peek up their skirts, chances are they'll change in front of us in the locker rooms, plus they will certainly want to hang out with us all the time. It's a win win situation," Baldr declared with a mischievous look.

"Or they could assume that you're homosexual and put you in the friend zone," Loki responded, smirking.

"Perhaps, but I think that if they thought I was homosexual then they would be okay with getting completely naked in front of me, eh?" Baldr said, wriggling his eyebrows suggestively. Thor looked like he was seriously contemplating the idea but the thought of people doubting his masculinity was not warming. Baldr finished up the last of his milk before continuing on, "Besides, it's not like I want to have sex with a girl. I'm saving that for marriage."

"But it's okay to be around them naked in the mean time," Mr. Roh suggested, trying to hide a grin.

"Well if they want to ogle his goodies in exchange…" Thor said smugly, and then looked horrified at what had just come out of his mouth.

"Ogle his goodies? Wow, Thor. How many trashy novels have you read?" Loki replied, shoulders shaking with laughter. He turned his attention to his twin and smiled encouragingly at him, patting his shoulder and said, "Baldr if you want to be a cheerleader then I support you all the way, no matter what your reasons are."

"Will you try out with me, then?" Baldr asked hopefully, looking between his brothers.

"The naked girls are tempting, but no. I don't think my doctor would allow it anyways," Loki replied, picking up all his garbage and putting it back in the paper bag.

"Loki, your doctor encourages you to do physical activities, don't make excuses," Thor said to him, giving him a look. He then turned to Baldr and put on a sweet face. "I'm too manly for cheerleading, sorry."

"I'll make you all a deal," Mr. Roh said, cutting into the conversation and they looked at him curiously. "If the three of you try out – and take it seriously - I will treat you all to McDonalds before the school year is over. And convince your teachers to give you extra credit."

Thor and Loki locked gazes, both considering the arrangement before nodding their heads.

"I'll make you an even better deal," Thor said, grinning at Loki. "Try out dressed as a girl under a different name."

"That's not taking it seriously," Baldr objected, but was ignored as Loki accepted the deal.

"Fine, but if I do that then you have to do my chores for an entire week," He agreed, holding out his hand to shake.

"For goodness sake, I don't think I have ever met a group of young boys so…" Mr. Roh said, waving his hand as he tried to think of the right word to describe the three boys in front of him.

"Unusual?"

"Awe-inspiring?"

"Weird?"

"Sort of like a combination of all three. You should really have your own reality show. Move over, Honey Boo Boo, here comes the Odinson brothers," Mr. Roh said with a laugh.

"A dolla makes me holla," Loki said, flicking the hair out of his face. "Honey boo boo child!"

_next up is reuniting with Pepper and Tony :D _


	14. Chapter 14

"Move over, Baldr…"

Loki sighed as he squirmed around trying to find a comfortable position to sleep in without falling off the side of the bed. He glared at his brother's back and tried to pry the blankets away because for some unfathomable reason Baldr had decided it would be a good idea to sleep with him on the bottom bunk. They had twin sized mattresses, two people just did not fit and Baldr was a bed hog in the first place.

Giving up in defeat, Loki swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood up so he could climb onto the top and sleep in Baldr's bed. However before he could make a move there was a sudden noise from outside, like something had hit the window. Frowning slightly, he hesitantly walked over wandering if a bird had crashed or something. Peering through the curtains he saw nothing and just as he was about to turn away when he saw the none other than Tony Stark standing in the lawn looking back at him expectantly. Shooting him a questioning look, Loki sighed when Tony beckoned him to come down. Curious to know what exactly this boy was doing throwing rocks at the window at two-thirty in the morning, Loki grabbed Baldr's blanket from his bed and wrapped it around his shoulders, tiptoeing downstairs and unlocking the front door before stepping outside into the chilly night.

"You better have a really good explanation for this, Stark," He said quietly, pulling the blanket closer to his body. It was cold and he wanted to be in bed asleep, not playing Romeo and Juliet in the middle of the night.

"I just wanted to talk to you," Tony told him sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head. He really had no reason for coming over other than the fact that he was home alone and couldn't sleep and Bruce wasn't answering his phone. He wouldn't ever admit it to anyone, but he did not like being alone at home.

"And that couldn't have waited until the morning?" Loki replied testily, leaning against the front door.

"Well…yeah, I guess it could have," Tony said slowly, shuffling his feet. Loki sighed and reached his hand up to flick the hair hanging in his eyes.

"Look, you're here now so just say whatever is on your mind. Just make it quick, it's cold and I'm not wearing socks," he said, and Tony glanced down to see his tiny toes peeking out of the blanket.

"Okay, um, I know this probably sounds weird and everything but I just really gotta ask…" Tony began to say unsurely, shuffling in place as if he doubted Loki would accept his proposition.

"What is it, Stark?" Loki asked, muffling a yawn. There was a pause and Tony bowed his head slightly for a moment, lifting it so slightly to look at Loki with his best pitiful eyes.

"Can I spend the night?" He asked in a hopeful voice.

"Can you what? Stark, it's – you know what? Whatever, fine. Just be quiet and don't wake anyone up," Loki said, twisting the doorknob and sliding inside the house. He closed the door behind Tony and put a finger to his lips, telling Stark to be quiet as they walked up the stairs.

"I can sleep on the couch if you want," Tony whispered as he followed Loki up.

"No, that's okay. Mother doesn't like people sleeping on the couch," Loki whispered back, shuffling down the hallway to his bedroom. He shrugged the blanket off his shoulder and thrust it into Tony's arms, pointing at the top bunk. When Tony gave him a questioning look, asking where he was going to sleep, Loki pointed out the door; he'd sleep with Thor.

"Thanks, sorry for waking you up," Tony whispered, walking over to the bunk bed. He chuckled at the sight of Baldr curled up in the blankets.

"Don't fall off, okay?" Loki replied, a grin twitching at his lips. Tony peered over the edge and grinned down at him.

"Night," he said before laying down.

"Night, Stark," Loki whispered back, about to turn away.

"_Tony_."

"Good night, Tony."

Shaking his head, Loki walked back to his brother's room and slipped inside the door. The room was dark but with the light from the moon leaking in from the window he could easily make out the bed where his brother was sleeping. He quietly crawled in next to Thor and lay his head on the pillow, curling up next to his brother. Thor's scent was familiar and made him feel safe and warm, and within minutes he was fast asleep. Unconsciously, Thor wrapped an arm around his brother and held him close.

* * *

"Odin, what do you want for breakfast, dear?" Frigga asked early the next morning. She walked over to the back door and opened it, leaving the screen door shut to let in the morning breeze, and as she moved to the cabinet to pull out one of the pans to start breakfast, she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist.

"I'm cooking you breakfast today, my love. Your favorite cinnamon French toast with sliced apples on top," Odin told her lovingly, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Frigga smiled and tilted her head to look at him affectionately.

"You are the best husband in the world. I love you," She told him, turning around in his arms so that they were face to face. Odin smiled back and gently pressed their lips together. They weren't the type of people to hide their affection from each other, and they both thought it very healthy to show their boys that they did indeed love each other. It just brought the family closer together and showed that they could be open with their emotions.

"I love you even more. Why don't you go wake the kids up?" Odin replied as he began to move around the kitchen gathering the ingredients he needed to start cooking.

Thor was always the hardest to get up in the mornings, waiting until the very last minute possible before he woke up and got dressed. Knowing that it was going to be a complete hassle waking him up, Frigga started with his room first, flipping on the lights as she stepped into the room. When she found Thor and Loki cuddled up in bed together with their arms wrapped around each other, she smiled softly and wanted very much to run and find the camera to snap a picture of the two of them. However before she could do so, Thor lifted his head up and gave her a look.

"Don't even think about it, mother," He warned quietly, knowing exactly what she was going to do. "He won't wake up and he hasn't budged for almost two hours and I have to pee so could you _please _make him move?"

Frigga walked over and sat on the edge of the mattress and placed a hand on Loki's back, patting him softly. "Sweetie, it's time to wake up. Your father is making French toast, your favorite," She told him persuasively. Loki groaned in response and only snuggled closer to Thor, tightening his grip.

"Mother," Thor complained as he desperately tried to tug his arm away from his brother; while it may not have looked it, Loki was rather strong and had a death grip.

"Loki, if you don't wake up I'm going to get some ice," Frigga threatened and at this, Loki peeked open an eye and glared at her.

"Lemme 'lone," He grumbled, burying his face into Thor's chest. Thor sighed loudly and began wiggling around wildly trying to shake his brother. "Thor, be still!"

"Get off me, you brat!"

"No, you're warm!"

"I'm going to pee on you!"

Shaking her head, Frigga rolled her eyes and stood up to leave. Both boys were awake now, her job here was finished and it was time to move on to Baldr. Mornings were when Baldr was her favorite child because he had always been so easy to wake up, and when he was a baby he had gone to sleep even better. Thor and Loki on the other hand…

The bedroom door was left open as it always was and the curtains had been pulled back, letting in a stream of sunlight. She reached to turn on the lights and was about to take a step forward when she noticed something did not seem quite right. Baldr was sleeping on Loki's bed, but there was a body on Baldr's bed.

"I don't remember giving birth to a fourth child," She said, a hint of amusement in her voice when she saw who was on the top bunk. A face peeked out of the blankets and tired eyes looked at her for a second before smiling widely.

"Hello, Mrs. Odinson. You look absolutely lovely this morning," Tony said in a sleepy voice.

"That doesn't sound like my brother," Baldr said suddenly, eyes snapping open. He rolled out of bed and stood on the mattress, peering into the top bunk. "Tony! You're not my brother!"

"I'm right here, Baldr," Loki said, walking into the room.

"I'll leave you boys to get dressed," Frigga said, patting Loki's shoulder before leaving the room.

"Your mom is so pretty," Tony informed his friends, sliding off the side of the bed and landing on his feet. He smiled widely at Loki who gave him a weird look in return as he went over to his dresser.

"You're not into my mother, are you?" Baldr asked, eyeing Tony wearily.

"Completely, talk about MILF," Tony replied, wriggling his eyebrows.

"Say that again and I'll break your arm," Thor threatened, coming into the room. "What are you doing here, anyway? I don't remember you coming over last night."

"You have bad memory, then. I've been here since supper," Tony replied with a straight face. He then turned to Loki, who was pulling on a clean shirt. "I'm going home to change, but I'll be back in time for breakfast. Don't miss me too much!"

As he walked away and his footsteps disappeared down the stairs, the three brothers stared after him with incredulous expressions on their faces.

"He confuses me sometimes…"

"I think he was dropped on his head as a baby or something," Loki stated matter of factly.


	15. Chapter 15

Rain was falling from dreary grey clouds, the sound of the rain drops hitting the roof and rattling the attic window was filling the room. Loki and Tony lay sprawled on their stomachs in the middle of the floor with textbooks scattered around them, silently writing their homework together. The house was still and silent, but despite the serenity Loki was having a difficult time concentrating. Instead of focusing on his homework he found himself sneaking glances at Tony, who was tapping his pencil against the textbook while he read.

This was becoming a daily thing between them these past few weeks. After school they would come back to the house and do homework in the attic and then spending an hour or two hanging out before Tony had to go home. Sometimes Thor and Baldr would join them, but they had found their own friends to spend time with. Baldr had made up with Pepper and Darcy and spent most of his time with them, being trained for cheerleader tryouts. Thor, on the other hand, had given up on the people in the school and spent his time with his old friends. On the weekends, all of them would come for sleepovers and because of this, many questions were on Loki's mind; namely, Tony and his many friendships.

He knew that Tony was still friends with Bruce, Clint, Steve, and Natasha. Tony still ate lunch with his friends' everyday while Loki and his brothers had taken to eating with Mr. Roh. But he also knew from Baldr that Tony still hung out with Pepper quite often, but still in secret. So it made him wander…was his friendship with Tony a secret from his other friends too? It had been bugging him for awhile now and he wasn't quite sure how he would feel if it was being kept from his other friends. It wasn't really of his business, though.

Out of nowhere a wad of paper hit his head and Loki glanced up with a frown, staring at Tony questioningly. Tony gave him a half-smile and sat up, and Loki copied his actions. "You were just staring into space for like five minutes. What were you thinking about?" Tony asked, tilting the head to the side curiously.

Loki shrugged his shoulders and brought his knees to his chest, resting his chin on top. He looked at Tony but said nothing, waiting to get his thoughts together. This was one of the best things he loved about his friend; he was always so willing to listen and wanted to know what on his mind.

"Tony, can I ask you a question? But promise that you won't get mad or anything," he said finally, and Tony nodded fervently. "It's just that I was wandering…is our friendship…well, I was just wandering if you are keeping our friendship a secret."

Tony opened his mouth to reply, but he closed it just as quickly and frowned. He crawled over and sat in front of Loki, staring at him seriously. "My friends know exactly where I go after school. They know that I'm here with you instead of hanging out with them. I'm not keeping it a secret, I even told them that I'm friends with Pepper and Rhodey too and that we hang out as well. But no, I'm not keeping you a secret, Loki. Never."

Loki smiled softly, and looked down.

"I'm glad. You're kind of my only friend besides Thor and Baldr, but…" He began to say, trailing off at the end.

"But it's not the same; they don't really count since they're your brothers. I get it, Loks. But you know, you're a really cool guy and if you tried I bet you would have a lot of friends. I mean hey, _I _like you a lot but that's obvious since I spend pretty much every waking moment outside of school with you," Tony answered with a grin.

"Well, I'm glad you do because I like being with you," Loki said, returning the smile that lit up his eyes.

"Great, now that we have that covered, let's do something fun. I give up on homework, my concentration is broken now. Thanks a lot," Tony said, turning back to his books and closing them.

"What do you want to do? I think Father will be home soon, he went to pick up Thor from his friends house in our old town. Maybe when he gets back he will take us to the movies or something," Loki suggested as they headed downstairs.

"We went to the movies last week, there isn't really anything good playing. We could go to the park to hang out, if you want," Tony offered, following him into the kitchen. Loki shrugged his shoulders and pulled open the fridge, grabbing two bottles of apple juice before moving to sit at the table.

"I thought you're little gang didn't allow outsiders," he said, taking a sip of juice.

"My dad pays for all the repairs of the tree house, so they can all kiss my ass," Tony answered with a smirk.

"Well maybe tomorrow? It's still raining out," Loki said, pointing out the window. Tony turned his head to look and frowned in defeat. Smiling softly, Loki beckoned Tony to follow him back to the living room. "Let's just watch TV or something, then."

"Fine, but we are not watching another episode of Doctor Who. Seriously, Loki, you need to try some new shows. What about Jurassic Park? Can't go wrong with dinosaurs," Tony said, snatching the remote away before Loki could snag it.

"I tried watching it once, had nightmares for a week," Loki replied, pulling a pillow into his lap. Tony gave him a look and rolled his eyes, turning his attention back to the television.

"You are a pansy, I swear. Look, Wallander is on, we'll watch that," He decided finally, propping his feet on the coffee table. Frigga had told him a million times not to do it, but she wasn't here at the moment and what she didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

They sat in silence watching the detective show, the rain pitter-pattering against the window in the background. Glancing at Loki from the corner of his eye, Tony slowly adjusted himself so that he was sitting just a little bit closer. When Loki said nothing, he took his chances further and scoot a bit more, faking a yawn to stretch his arms widely, landing one arm around Loki's shoulder. Smiling widely, he looked at his friend and batted his lashes prettily, causing Loki to laugh lightly at his antics.

"What are you doing, Tony?" Loki asked, making no attempt to push Tony away. Instead he unconsciously relaxed in his arms leaning into him slightly.

"I'm not doing anything. Now be quiet and watch the show," Tony said, shushing him with a grin. Loki rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to the television, still doing nothing to make Tony move off him. Instead, he leaned his head back against Tony's shoulder and both of them bit back smiles.

And just because he could, Tony pulled Loki into his arms, holding him against his chest. It was a swift movement but they made themselves comfortable just as quickly, with Loki leaning his head on Tony's chest and Tony resting his head on Loki's. Neither of them said that they could feel each other's heart beats.

No, they didn't say anything at all.

* * *

Later that evening, Odin was in his office with the door closed trying to finish up a file for tomorrow. He could hear Frigga in the kitchen finishing up the dishes and Thor in the living room watching television, but the noise wasn't at all distracting. In fact, he quite appreciated knowing where his family was because he knew they were home and safe. It wasn't something that he would worry excessively over; they were all perfectly capable of taking care of themselves, but…

Sighing grievously, Odin pulled a key out of his pocket and unlocked a desk drawer and took out a envelope that he'd stuck in there a day or two ago. He didn't want his wife or children to see it, but the envelope contained an old photograph of Thor, Loki, and Baldr when they were about four playing in at a park. It was taken from afar and on the back there was a message written. Picking up the photograph, Odin turned it over and looked at the words with hard eyes.

_This little piggy went to the market, this little piggy went to the school, and this little piggy cried wee wee wee all the way from home. _

It didn't make any sense. The group of people that had taken Loki all those years ago had been arrested and was in prison for another twenty years. This only made him wander who had sent this photograph; he was going to call the lawyer and see if any of those people had gotten out on probation. _No one _was going to harm his family again and if anybody laid a hand on his children he would see to it that they died by tragic accident.

A knock came on the door and Odin quickly shoved the photo back in the drawer and locked it before calling out to whoever it was to come in. He smiled lightly when Baldr stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, waving for his son to take a seat across from him so they could talk.

"What's up, Baldr?" Odin asked, leaning back in his chair. He watched as his son attempted to get his thoughts together, a range of emotions spreading across his face. Baldr looked…conflicted, to say the least, like he was hesitant to say whatever was on his mind. Was he about to - ?

Eyes widening slightly, Odin braced himself. He hadn't expected _this_, at least not so soon! Of course he had suspected it; after all, his son collected My Little Pony toys and spent his childhood playing the damsel in distress while his brothers were the princes and knights…but he was still just a kid! He couldn't possibly know what his sexual orientation was this early in life! Taking a deep breath, Odin calmed himself. He had to stay calm, Baldr needed his support now more than ever.

"Son, whatever choices you make in life I just want you to know that I love and support you no matter what," He said seriously, looking at Baldr confidently. What if Thor and Loki were too? Their hair was getting so long, and he could have sworn he saw them sneaking upstairs with Frigga's make up the other day. Thor's cheeks _had _looked rather rosy that night at supper…

"So…you would be okay if I joined the cheerleading team?" Baldr asked slowly.

"If that's what you truly want to do, then I'm okay with it. Just – Just wear the male uniform, will you? I mean if you _really _want to wear the girls…well, maybe later on in life you could go further? But, you're so young and you don't really know what you want until you've been with both man and woman and so I – " Odin rambled on, spluttering embarrassedly. He didn't know what he was supposed to say, no one had prepared him for this. He thought all he had to do was give his sons the safe sex talk about babies and pregnancies.

"Why would I want to wear the girls uniform?!" Baldr exclaimed appalled. "Father! _Been _with a man and woman? I'm only fifteen! Oh my God, what are you saying?"

"But you – and the Ponies – and I just assumed – your mother said it first! Then you come in here look all innocent and serious and so I thought that today was the day…I…" Odin stopped talking and closed his eyes, burying his face in his hands. This was all Frigga's fault, she had put the thought in his head in the first place!

Baldr groaned and sunk down in his seat. "Father, you're so embarrassing sometimes. I just thought it would be cool to join because Pepper and Darcy convinced me too and they're my friends and then it would look really good on my college applications."

"So you're not - ?" Odin asked for confirmation.

"_No_, father," Baldr replied with a sigh.

"But what about the makeup? I saw the three of you the other night," Odin pushed on, and Baldr laughed and shook his head.

"One of the teachers told Thor and Loki that he would give them extra credit if they tried out too, but then Thor made a deal with Loki that if he tried out as a girl he would do his chores for a week. We were just trying to see how Loki would look as a girl," He explained, lessening the awkwardness of the entire situation.

"Oh. Okay. Well, in that case…of course you may join the cheerleading team," Odin said, nodding slowly.

"Okay, thanks, father," Baldr said, standing up. He moved to the door but before he could leave Odin stopped him for a moment.

"Baldr…you know that it would be okay, don't you? All of it. Your mother and I love you boys no matter what," He said seriously. Baldr glanced back at his father, nodding slowly.

"I know, but maybe you should talk to Loki about this," He replied, lowering his voice. "I saw him and Tony cuddling together the other day."

With that, Baldr left the office and closed the door behind him. Odin frowned slightly and leaned forward on his desk, thinking about this new information. He knew that his sons were slightly weird, what with Baldr and his Pony collection, Thor reading trashy romance novels, and Loki with his feminine hair, but…

It didn't matter.

He was okay with it.

They were his children and he loved them above anything, and as long as they were safe and happy then he was content with anything.


End file.
